Undying Love
by Vampiratelvr
Summary: I longed to be human for her. To give her things a human could give her: A hug that wasn't cold, a kiss that wasn't deadly. A life that wasn't damned. This is set after New Moon; completely disregards the first chapter of Eclipse. Epilogue added; enjoy!
1. Are You Serious?

**(A/N) Well. I want to see where this story will take me – I have a little bit of an outline. The main plot gets underway in a few chapters – I have to get this set up first. Very fluffy first chapter!**

Chapter 1

Are You _Serious_

**(E POV) **

Bella...my little Bella…

I gazed at her sleeping angel's form, twitching every so often in the blankets covering her. How I loved her…it was rather pathetic how quickly my affection for her grew to obsession. She claimed to love me, but all it can ever be for her is a crush. She said so herself, though she says that the words were merely to deter her mother.

But in the off chance that she really did love me, I wished that I could give her more than I currently was. But if I tried, it might endanger her life – something I was, under no circumstances, willing to risk.

I longed to be normal for her, to give her things a human could give her.

A hug that wasn't cold.

A kiss that wasn't deadly.

A life that wasn't damned.

She seemed so willing to accept these things. Maybe...no. I could not let myself hope that…that maybe…she _could_ love me. That would explain all that is absurd about her. Why she stayed with me, why she was frightened when I left, why she looked at me with warmth in her chocolate brown eyes. Why she, as of yet, has failed to run away from me, screaming…

Then she woke up.

**(B POV)**

"Edward?" I mumbled sleepily. Cold arms tightened around my waist.

"My angel," he murmured against my hair. I shivered with delight as his perfect lips brushed my head. "Good morning, Bella." This was followed by more kisses. He reached his head over my shoulder to kiss down my jaw line, finishing with my lips. I tried to pull away from him, but to no avail.

"Morning, Edward," I said, thoroughly confused. "But I have to take a human minute." Still struggling uselessly, I began to pound against his stone-hard chest.

"Mmmm," he agreed. "But I don't want you to leave." There was an inner meaning to those words that I couldn't help but notice.

"Edward," I said firmly, pulling his beautiful god's face close to mine. Trailing my fingers along his jaw, I said, "I will love you for forever, for eternity, if I live that long or not. If you change me or not, leave me or not, my heart will never waver." His depthless golden eyes bore into mine, searching for the truth. They widened as they found that it was.

"Really?" His voice was barely a whisper, his mind hardly daring to believe what his ears told him they had heard.

My thumb traced his lips. "I promise that that was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." His eyes delved deeper into mine. Apparently he missed the joke. He turned away for a few moments; to me it felt like a millennia. His eyes glistened, pure honey, when he looked at me next.

I looked down; I couldn't bear to see the sheer joy in his eyes. Because that meant that the same joy hadn't been there before. He had not believed in my love for him – my undying love. He had thought all the time that he was an undeserving monster, no matter how often I protested. _That_ had me miffed.

"Of all the absurd things!" I growled. Edward blinked, taken aback. He looked hurt, so I hurried to explain. "You have no idea how far from a monster you are." He opened his mouth in protest; I silenced him with a look and a finger to his lips. "No, Edward. You need to know. You are not a monster. You abstain from human blood because you want to be good – you don't _want_ to hurt people. That makes you good. And to me, you are the very best."

Okay, so maybe that was a little cheesy. Hopefully he wouldn't notice.

His hands crept forward, shakily, and caressed my face. "My…love," he whispered, breath hitting me hard. He brought his face to mine. "My Bella."

He touched his lips ever so lightly to every part of my face and neck. So light, due to protecting my human frailness, but also forceful enough to let me know the ferocity of the kisses. They each had so much power. And now I realized that they also contained his love.

"Bella…I can't believe…I couldn't understand…" I cut him off.

"Edward, I love you. Don't you ever doubt that. I love you." My voice cracked, tears beginning to stream unbidden down my cheeks. "I love you."

Slowly, painstakingly, Edward lifted my chin up to meet his eyes. His cool fingers reached over to flick the tears gently from my face. He leaned in, lips brushing against mine. "I know." His voice held warmth, love, and joy.

Suddenly, that wonderfully crooked grin broke out on his heart-stopping (literally) face.

"My God, Bella, I love you!" He flipped me onto my back. His cold hands were on my shoulders. His touch wasn't his usual, hesitant touch any longer – it was reckless.

I loved it.

"Mmm, Edward…" I mumbled as his lips crushed mine. My hands tangled once again in his hair – the cause of many close calls – but for once he didn't pull away. At least, not abruptly. Eventually, he pulled back, breathing erratically (in perfect imitation of my heart). He leaned his forehead against mine.

"Bella…God, Bella, you've got to know I want to give you more, Bella. But now, of all times, I can't lose control. I…after graduation, I'll change you – unless you want to remain human?" His sudden grin wasn't exactly hopeful – more teasing. "Though that's not much of an option anymore – I love you too much to ever let you go." He squeezed me tightly to his chest once more.

This surprised me. I quickly regained my composure and replied. "Are you _serious_?!" I screeched. Oops. That was louder than I intended it to be.

The smile froze on his face; he sighed. "Good job, Bella," he said dryly, but with a twinkle in his eye. He leaned forward and, with a light kiss on my nose, disappeared from sight.

"Edward? You're in the closet, aren't you?" My voice was confident. I knew he would never leave me. A low chuckle came from behind my closet doors, and I smiled to myself. God, he was so perfect…weird, but perfect.

The bedroom door opened, revealing an angry-looking Charlie standing in the doorway.

My breath caught – it looked like he wanted to have yet _another _little chat about what happened after Edward and I had come back from Italy. Crap.

"Hey, Dad." I yawned, attempting to sound at least a little sleepy.

"Bella…I just want to know…why do you love him so much? I mean, even in your dreams he makes you scream in pain. How can you trust him? How can you-"

"Dad. Screaming in pain? Well, _that _hasn't happened since he came back three weeks ago." Okay, I was pissed. Ever since Edward had come back, me right by his side, Charlie had been angry as heck off and on. But, he didn't seem mad at Edward…and I didn't understand why.

"Bella…you love him. It's obvious. I guess…" He sat down on the edge of my bed. "I guess he's good for you. I mean, he's not your typical teenage boyfriend…I think that you two kind of click. You know? It's like you're made for each other."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "Okay, Dad…but why do you hate him so much? I mean, if you're willing to admit that we love each other, and that we're 'made for each other', why do you always get tense when he's around?"

He sighed. The purplish-reddish color was gently receding from his face, and I was beginning to see Charlie again. He put his face in his hands, and sighed again. "Bella…I'm just trying to be a father. You were without a real father for seventeen, almost eighteen years. Doesn't every father not approve of his daughter's first boyfriend? I just…I want to protect you, Bells. But it's so hard. Especially because I actually _like_ him."

"What?" I was shocked, to say the least, but I was also a little grateful. He had spent all this time trying to be a good father, even when his instincts told him that Edward was a good guy. He was just trying to give me what I never had – a Dad.

"And…there's more, Bells, so sit tight. I guess I…I've been selfish. I just don't want to lose you, Bella. You're my child…my only child…" He paused for breath.

"For these past eighteen years, you've been my reason to keep on living. For the hope that you would someday have it in you to return here to Forks. Forgive me for phrasing it like this, but for the past year, you've been my everything." He looked down, shamefaced. "Forgive me for putting myself before you."

I stared. No way…it was all an act. That entire _year _he had spent, utterly _despising_ my perfect vampire boyfriend, was an _act_! And Edward couldn't tell in Charlie's thoughts. Why? Then I realized…

Charlie kept thinking, 'I hate him I hate him I hate him," but he knew it wasn't truth. He kept trying to convince himself, however, that it _was _the truth. So, when Edward was around, he would be thinking it to himself extremely powerful. So Edward thought that Charlie _really_ hated him. Wow. I could tell that I didn't get any acting skills from Charlie…fooling a vampire…if only he knew…

When he spoke up again, I suddenly noticed that the room had been eerily quiet. "Bella, it was just so hard for me to just let this relationship with Edward unfold. I was just trying to be a good, protective father. But Edward's a good kid. I tried to convince myself, even, that Edward wasn't good for you. I can't pretend any longer, Bella. I want you two to be together."

I stared at him once more, incredulously, mouth agape. "Dad…? Are you _serious_?"

Charlie chuckled. "I seem to recall you saying that earlier tonight…that's why I came up here, I believe."

I blushed. "Umm…well…" I stuttered for an excuse. Something believable. And the only excuse Charlie will believe is something that is true. Or, semi-true.

"Well, Dad," I broke off, pretending to be embarrassed. Though, in actuality, it wasn't really pretending.

"Go on, Bells. I promise I won't react in any way, shape, or form." He winked.

"Right. Good," I said, flustered. "Well, I was dreaming…" Again, my courage dwindled to a mere speck in the far-off distance.

Charlie sighed. "Bella. Don't be scared of my reaction." He turned to the window, where the sun began to rise. "I promise. No reactions whatsoever." He turned to me again, smiling his crinkly old-guy smile.

"In this dream of mine, that I just had, that is…" I really was a horrible liar. Might as well have 'LIAR' in bright red painted on my forehead. Charlie would _really_ fall for it then. "In the dream, I was sitting next to Edward…it wasn't very realistic, I mean, we were in the middle of the lunchroom, but he did…"

I stopped for the third time. Charlie was leaning forward intently, his eyes searching for what I might say next. "Um, Dad? No reactions, remember?"

He blinked, like coming out of a trance. "Oh, right, sorry…" he muttered, embarrassed.

"S' okay." Charlie may have promised no reactions, he may have said he liked Edward and thought we were 'perfect' together, and Edward may have superhuman, vampire strength, but I was still concerned for Edward's safety after Charlie heard what I was about to tell him.

"He proposed to me." The words came out in a rush, mushing together like a bowl of mashed potatoes. I sat there, waiting for Charlie's reaction.

"Are you _serious_?" he asked. I didn't know what he was thinking, and I probably didn't want to.

"No reactions, remember?" I reminded him. He looked down, sheepish.

"And you said?" he prompted when he looked back at me, his face now impassive.

"I said yes." I said this in a whisper. My dad leaned back thoughtfully.

"And what would you say if he asked you? In real life?" I could tell it was hard for him to say this – after all, I _was _his only daughter here.

"I…Dad, I don't want to hurt you or-" Charlie cut me off.

"No, Bells. I don't want you to make a decision like because of what Renée or I feel. I want this decision to be based off of what _you _want." He said this firmly, decisively.

"Then…I would undoubtedly say yes." About a million times…and then a million times again, and then-

"Well, Bella…I think you've made a good decision. I think that boy loves you with everything he has. Now it's just a matter of when he proposes." He winked, and headed for the door.

I smiled at him. "Night, Dad." He turned.

"And, Bella?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"I love you. I know, when you two get together, you'll leave me…" I tried to cut in, but he stopped me. "But that's okay with me. Because I know that I've had the honor of being your father, and now the opportunity to be your dad. I love you Bella, and I know he'll take care of you."

Tears welled up in my eyes at the kindness of this man, the only father I have ever known, who stayed by me even when his wife left him. "I love you too, Dad. I love you, too."

When he left, the door closing quietly behind him, Edward came out of the closet and sat next to me on the bed.

"Bella…was that…was what you said…" He looked at me, his eyes full of questions. Questions that demanded answering, needed it. "Do you…"

"Edward. The _only _reason, I repeat, _only_ reason that I didn't say yes on the spot was because I didn't want my last little bit of life with Charlie and Renee to be with them loathing the man I marry. It had absolutely _nothing _to do with you." I said this all very fast. But Edward should be able to understand it – he and his siblings talk about a thousand times faster than that.

"I just wondered…if you had anything against…being…this." He looked down at his hands, folded uselessly in his lap.

I took those hands in my own, though they were much bigger than mine, and stared into his eyes. "Never." I leaned forward all of a sudden, planting my lips firmly against his.

A few minutes and a hundred kisses later, I pulled back. "Edward…yes. I'll marry you. That is, if you'll still have me."

Edward looked at me, his face normal. His expression hadn't changed. I grew worried…I was going to get _really_ pissed if he hadn't heard me. Or if…

"Wait, what?" he asked, coming out of a daze. "Did you just…Bella?" He took my face in his hands. "Bella…" He took a deep breath, though, him being a vampire, he wouldn't really need it.

"Are you _serious_?!"

"Undeniably." He pulled me into his arms, squeezing me tight.

"Bella…I love you. Seriously."

I giggled. "Seriously, huh? Since when have _you _been _serious_?"

"Ha-ha. Very funny. Oh…Bella? I've been carrying this around with me…in the hope that you would, you know…" He pulled out a small velvet box. I froze. I had told him, time and time again, _no rings_. But when he opened the lid, all my anger slipped away into the night. In the box lay a simple golden band with a single topaz glinting in the center.

"Isabella Swan, my Bella, my angel…will you marry me?"

My heart leapt with joy, and all I could do was respond with a half whispered, half squealed, "Yes!" He chuckled, slipping it on my finger.

"Forever," he said quietly, and leaned down to kiss my forehead.

I drifted off to sleep in my vampire fiancée's arms


	2. That's What You Get

**(A/N:) Well, thank ya'll for those who reviewed and/or favorited. Means a lot, guys! Here's stab two at Undying Love. Hope you like it! Here's where everything takes off!**

Last Chapter:

"_Isabella Swan, my Bella, my angel…will you marry me?" _

_My heart leapt with joy, and all I could do was respond with a half whispered, half squealed, "Yes!" He chuckled, slipping it on my finger. _

_"Forever," he said quietly, and leaned down to kiss my forehead._

_I drifted off to sleep in my vampire fiancée's arms._

Chapter 2

That's What You Get

**(E POV) **

My Bella…my fiancée…soon to be my wife.

Alice had blackmailed her yesterday into going to the mall with her. Eventually, she relented, on the condition that Alice would not force her into Victoria's Secret. Alice was disappointed, as was I, but still managed to buy half the mall.

Tonight, Bella wore a plain pink t-shirt on top of black and pink polka-dot pajama shorts. I'd have to compliment her on those - they showed off quite a bit more leg than the gym uniform did. She was so beautiful…so absurdly beautiful…and she loved me. That was what astonished me. That somebody so wonderful, so kind, so loving, so…so Bella. And she loved me.

I stared at her beloved face as she visited, once more, the world of dreams. A world where there was peace and happiness. Anything could happen in this world of dreams.

In a few weeks, she would never dream again.

I had agreed to take away her humanity, in return for an eternity with me. I had spent all of last night pondering whether or not I had made the right decision, taking away all that she held dear.

But a little voice in the back of my head chose that moment to speak up. _She loves you. You love her. Shouldn't that be enough?_

_Yes, _I agreed, twisting my fingers through my Bella's hair. _It is enough. But I'm taking away her friends, her family_.

_Would you let yourself be taken away from your family if it meant being with Bella for eternity?_ the voice prodded.

Of course, I knew the answer. I always had. My Bella loved me, and I loved her. We were destined to be together forever. It felt good. It felt _right_. It had been so long since anything in my life had felt right. That is, until Bella came along.

I shifted my body closer to hers, carefully, so as not to disturb her. She sensed the movement, however, and woke, eyes bleary with sleep.

"My Bella," I greeted her with a chuckle, for her hair was more mussed than usual, due to me playing with it during the night.

She glared at me when I laughed, and I grinned repentantly. "Sorry, love. You're just so cute…no, cute doesn't cut it. Adorable, beautiful, gorgeous, angelic…" I paused dramatically for breath. "But right now you're just plain adorable."

Bella looked at me, faking hurt, one eyebrow raised. "How am I adorable now, but not gorgeous or angelic?" she questioned me teasingly.

I hastened to explain. "Bella, you're _always _adorable, gorgeous, and angelic. Just, you're pouting right now. So adorable is more prominent." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to go take my human minute." She stood up to gather her things and head to the bathroom that she shared with Charlie.

Leave me without a kiss?

Not on my watch.

"No, you don't," I informed her, grabbing her by her slim waist and pulling her back. She landed back on the bed, causing the springs to send me a few inches into the air. I fought the urge to laugh at her awkward positioning on the bed, but decided that I wanted to be on her good side today. I sat up, repositioning her so that she sat on my lap, the back of her head leaning against my chest. She turned her face so that she could see mine.

"And why ever not, Edward?" she asked haughtily, narrowing her eyes in mock severity.

I took that moment to close the distance between our faces. Just before our lips touched, I said, "We didn't say good morning properly." I took a little longer with this kiss than strictly necessary, pulling back as I noticed that I was pushing the limit. "You're my fiancée, Bella. There's no way I'm letting you go anywhere in the morning without a kiss first."

"So that wasn't a dream!" she squealed happily, twisting on my lap and throwing her arms around me. Her sudden movement was startling, even to me. But I decided that I best not comment. I loved it when she spontaneously showed her affection for me.

"No, my love," I murmured into her hair. "It wasn't a dream." Realizing our conversation was turning too serious for so early in the morning, I made an attempt to lighten it up. "If it was a dream, my dear Bella, I would not have experienced it, for I cannot dream. But I know that I _did _experience it, however dreamlike it may be. So, therefore, last night was real. We're engaged."

Bella's face was blank, trying to process what I had just said. It was a little complex, and a little fast, for human ears. Then her smile grew to a grin, and she squealed once more, "I _knew _it wasn't a dream! Oh, dear Lord, Edward, we're gonna be _married_!"

I winced exaggeratedly, cringing against the wooden headboard. "God, Bella, you're acting like _Alice_." I groaned, as if to prove how horrible that was.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I…" She was flustered. I shouldn't have said anything. But she was so gosh darn cute…beautiful…

"Oh!" she cried, and I scanned the room quickly, wondering what had startled her. "Crap," she said under her breath. "Edward, get in the closet."

"Um, Bella? Charlie left for work about, oh, three hours ago." Bella flushed at this, and buried her face in my chest.

"Bella?" I asked gently, bringing her face up to meet my gaze. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, honey." She looked gratefully at me. Oh, God. There was moisture in her eyes. "It's not your fault that you're incredibly unobservant." She glared at me, but (thank God) her eyes had cleared of tears.

"I believe you've told me that before, Edward Anthony Mason Cullen."

There was a momentary silence. "Now can I take my human minute?" Bella whined pitifully. "I feel dirty."

I snickered. "And what if I say no?" I questioned with a wry grin.

She pouted. God, she was beautiful when she did that! More beautiful than normal, that is. Scratch that. She's always beautiful…

"Very well, Bella. You may take a human moment," I said, feigning reluctance. All right, all right, I admit it. I didn't have to feign anything. I wanted her to stay with me.

She stood up, and gathered her toiletries. "And you'll be here when I finish in the shower?" she asked, a warm blush rising on her cheeks.

I stood up from the bed, taking her briefly in my arms, just enough to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Always, my love, my angel." She pulled back, into the bathroom, and with one last smile, shut the dark wooden door behind her.

Then I smelled it. Wolves.

**(B POV) **

The water was turned on cold. I hated cold water. _Despised _it. Until I came to Forks. Rather, until I met one Edward Cullen. The cold water, I was embarrassed to say, reminded me of him. It was relaxing, and it helped me to think.

I was his fiancée. I would become a vampire – I would marry Edward and be able to be with him forever.

Subconsciously turning the showerhead so that it more directly hit my hair, I thought of him.

My Edward…my handsome, strong, angelic, god-like…too many words described him, yet not enough could truly encompass him.

In fact, only one did.

'Edward'.

I turned off the water. Stepping out of the shower onto the cool tiles, I noticed strange noises coming from downstairs.

First, growling…teeth gnashing together…a horrible crunching noise…and then a remarkably deafening silence. I was sure I was deathly pale as I threw on my purple bathrobe. Flinging open the door, I took one glance into my room. The bed was empty, the window closed. The tacky lemon yellow lamp from Renée wasn't on. After this quick assessment, I realized that Edward wasn't in there.

Which meant he was downstairs.

Possibly being ripped apart.

_Oh God, Edward, be all right, please be all right…Oh, God…_ I rushed to the staircase. I would never forget the terrifying image that I saw there, if I lived for an eternity or not.

Jacob, Paul, Jared, Embry, and Sam stood in Charlie's kitchen in a circular formation, surrounding something that I couldn't see. Embry and Jared were on either side of Paul, gripping his arms harder than I ever wanted to imagine. Paul himself had his teeth bared. He was shaking uncontrollably, and his eyes were wild.

Jacob was staring, eyes wide, towards the center of the circle.

And Sam…I don't think I've ever seen him so disoriented, so out of control. His mouth hung open, but his eyes were full of sorrow.

I knew, then, what had happened.

I knew, then, what was in the center of the circle.

Uttering a gasp of pain, I sank to the floor, clutching frantically but unsuccessfully at the stair's pine railing.

All five heads snapped up to me, but the werewolves weren't what I cared about at that moment. There movement let me see in between Sam and Jared to the center of the circle.

I had time only for a shrill cry before I tumbled down to the wooden stairs in my haste to reach him.

Him. Edward. MyEdward.

He lay on the yellowed, peeling linoleum floor, motionless.

I half-ran, half-stumbled into the kitchen, my hip banging into one of the three kitchen chairs. My hand, as I scrambled around the corner, hit the wall with a resounding crack. Neither of these pains was what caused the tears obscuring my vision. No; I cried from a wound much deeper than any injury that could physically be inflicted upon me.

I fell to Edward's side. "No, no," I sobbed. "Edward, please, oh Edward…" I leaned forward, pressing my lips to his hair, his face, his lips. Wildly, I grabbed his beautiful bronze hair, coated thick with perspiration. "No, no, Edward…"

A pale, trembling hand reached out to stroke my cheek. "Bella," Edward croaked, his velvety voice marred by what I assumed to be intense pain. "Bella…I love you." He took my face in his hands, which were warm, even feverish, and pressed his lips to mine. "Thank you," he murmured, as I repositioned his upper body so that his head lay on my lap.

"Bella," he said once more, his eyes opening a little wider than they had before. They were a color I had never seen in his eyes before – a murky gray. The gray of a dying rose, of cold wax long since melted from the candle.

A foreboding color.

This color meant that death was on its way.

The kitchen had gone silent. The yellow cabinets, mismatched chairs, and peeling flooring seemed so out of place, when all that I loved was crumbling in front of my eyes. Paul's angry growling had subsided, and each and every werewolf's eyes were on me and my Edward.

"Bella…" he groaned. "My Bella…Bella, listen to me…" His voice grew abnormally frantic, with worry that shouldn't have been there. "Bella, my Bella, hold me. Hold me, Bella…I need you. God knows, Bella, I need you." His hands flailed weakly about, searching for, I supposed, me.

I comforted him, smoothing his sweat-dampened hair back from his face. "Hush now, Edward, hush," I cooed. "It'll be okay, Edward, you won't die, I won't let you die, oh, Edward, don't you worry…"

His arms had ceased their flailing. His eyes were calmer. In them swam so many emotions.

First and foremost, love. A love that was so strong, so pure, that I knew it would continue on through death itself.

It was the love that Edward and I had shared, that we still do. That love, that undying love…it would turn to a curse if ever we were separated again. It would still be there, certainly, and stronger than ever, perhaps, but it would rip out the heart of each until they were back in the other's embrace.

Death was, and continues to be, the only thing that could separate the two of us. We had been fighting the battle against death for nearly two years, and now we were to lose.

Then there was hate. I knew it was not directed at me, but at death. At death for taking him away from me, when we were so close to our own fairy tale ending, our happily ever after…

And then, the emotion I was loathe to see.

Acceptance.

He couldn't. He wouldn't…just give up…just _leave _me…The world can't be so cruel, can it?

Of course, we all know the answer.

It most definitely _can_ be cruel.

"Edward!" I screamed. "_EDWARD!" _And into the crook of his neck I cried.

The werewolves stood there, staring, mouths agape.

I didn't care.

I was in my bathrobe, which was beginning to slip past my shoulders, in front of my vampire boyfriend and five others.

I didn't care.

All I cared about now was Edward. My Edward. His breath was slipping away, oh so slowly, and I wished then that I was stronger. I wished that I could hold my head high as he left this world, so he could be proud of the girl that he loved.

Instead, I cried.

But death had not taken him from me yet; no, my Edward was strong. He would fight death until he was ready to go. He still had something more to say.

"Bella…promise me something," he whispered. I shook my head fiercely in response.

"No…no. You'll just trick me again, Edward, and I won't, I _won't _live without you. I won't…you can't make me…." Snot dribbled down my chin, mixing with my salty tears.

He smiled sadly. "Bella…" he sighed. It was a struggle for him to speak. I tried to stop him, but he silenced me with a cool finger to my lips.

"You're quite right. I can't…can't…make you do anything. I am a dying man…vampire…thing." A twisted smile appeared on his angelic, deathly pale face. "Bella, my light, my angel…I ask this of you as I die. Won't you listen to my dying wish, Bella? I need this…please…it will let me leave this world, and all that I hold dear…" To my surprise, he paused there, and my favorite crooked grin spread weakly across his perfect face. "Meaning you, Bella, for you are all I could ever need….or want…Will you please, Bella, promise me?" His gray eyes bore into mine, and although they were not the color that I was used to, they still held all the power of the liquid gold. I could refuse nothing for those eyes.

"Anything," I whispered.

He smiled, closing his eyes. "Then move on."

Those words shocked me to my very core. _Move on? What kind of joke does he think he's pulling?! He _knows _I won't be able to forget him…_

My Edward seemed to know what I was thinking, for his eyes snapped open, growing wider and wider, and his hands tightened their grip on my hair and shoulder.

"No, no…" he said. "I didn't mean…" He was interrupted by a fit of coughing.

Since when did vampires cough?

"Bella…you don't have to forget me. In fact, I would prefer it if you did not. But…go on with your life. Meet new friends, get a boyfriend, marry him, have kids…indulge in pleasures that I myself could never give you…" He winked. I tried to pretend that I didn't know what he was talking about, but I don't think I could have avoided the blush that rose in my cheeks even if I _didn't _know what he was talking about.

"Ah, how I'll miss that," he murmured, pulling my face down so he could kiss me lightly, once on each cheek.

"Edward…I'll never forget you, don't worry about that…" It was hard for me to say this, but I grew stronger with each word. "You being the most handsome, loving, caring, stupid, masochistic, brilliant man…vampire…thing…I have ever met." My lips met his briefly, but pulled away.

"What is this?" he chuckled feebly. "My Bella called me stupid and brilliant in the same sentence? What is the world coming to?" He pulled me closer. "Bella…one more thing."

I froze, wary of what he might say. Was he thinking to make me lead a normal human life? To ban me from the mythical creatures that lived in Forks, Washington? I certainly hoped not.

Because, if he asked me to, I would leave the Cullens. I would go as far away from them as possible, if it made my Edward happy.

He clasped my hands in his large but frail ones. "Bella. Keep in contact with my family, okay?" His face moved closer to mine, his breath hitting me as hard as ever. "I don't think they could stand to lose to children in one go." His eyes met, and held, mine. "Promise me."

I nodded, this time willingly. "I love you, Edward," I sniveled.

Edward grinned, more strongly this time, and raised a corner of his shirt to my face, wiping goo from under my nose. "There, there, Bella. Do you need a Kleenex?"

I suppressed the urge to stick out my tongue at him. I winced, for this reminded me of that day in Biology…when we first spoke. How he had used his eyes to coerce me into telling him my life story…how he had charmed my heart right out of me. How I had fallen, so willingly, in love.

We had come so far from the glare he sent me that first day in Biology.

And now it was all ending.

I threw my arms around him, howling, bawling like the little weakling I was. He briefly held me tight, and I could practically hear my ribs cracking, before he spoke again.

"And Bella?" I looked up at his face, his gorgeous angel's face, tears falling from my eyes like a waterfall. "If you and Carlisle are right…I'll be watching from…from up there. And I'll be waiting."

Edward Cullen smiled his infamous crooked grin one last time, and fell limply into my lap.

A moment of shocked silence elapsed. Then…

"NO!" I shrieked, devastation sweeping in on me. "EDWARD! COME BACK! NO! NO, EDWARD!" I screamed and screamed and screamed, till all the willpower that seemed to be in me was gone.

Then I heard a voice from behind me.

"That's what you get." I turned slowly, to meet the eyes of one Embry Call. He stared back defiantly.

"What do you mean?" My voice was barely a whisper, and alarmingly hoarse.

He did not waste a minute before replying harshly, "That's what you get…for loving a filthy bloodsucker."

I stared at him, as did his fellow werewolves. As his words began to sink in, pure rage filled me.

"You shut the hell up, Embry Call, you hear me? Shut the hell up!" I yelled, my voice cracking with anger. "Get outta here, Embry, get _out_!" I was livid. How dare he? He insulted my Edward…

I was so preoccupied in my blind hate that I failed to notice Paul starting to shake hard…then harder…

I snapped back into reality when I heard Sam and Jacob shout in unison, "NO, PAUL!"

But it was too late. Paul had transformed, one clawed paw knocking the little oak table onto its side, another crashing through a window. Before Paul could throw himself at me, Jacob took a leap and transformed himself, faster than I would ever have thought possible. He growled, teeth snapping together ferociously, and chased Paul out of Charlie's now-ruined house.

Jared took one look at Sam's irate face and followed the two younger boys with a small explosion of fabric.

Now it was me, Sam, and Embry. And Edward's body.

As I realized this, I crouched defensively over it. They weren't going to set one finger on him.

But Sam wasn't paying attention to me.

"You're wrong," he said, addressing Embry. "Nobody deserves this." Embry opened his mouth in protest, but Sam plowed on. "No one, Embry. No one deserves to have their loved one torn away from them."

The alpha's eyes penetrated Embry's own. Embry hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, Sam." He shuffled out of the kitchen, and once out, ran to the woods.

Sam turned his gaze on me. He knelt down, and I cowered in fear close to Edward's side. He took my small, shaking hands in his abnormally big, ones. "Isabella, I…I find that I know, somewhat, what you are feeling." Upon noticing my refusal to respond, he said uncomfortably, "I…I am sorry for your loss, Isabella Swan. Truly sorry." He left. I did not notice as the door closed behind him.

I turned once more to my Edward. I clutched his body to me, sobbing brokenly into his chest. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was my sobbing.

But then, as my tears ran thin, and my cries diminished, I could hear something that rang out in the overpoweringly silent room.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

A…heartbeat?

**A/N Well, ya'll, don't kill me. I **_**had **_**to. A dream told me so. Blame it on the dream! Blame it all on the dream! I thought this turned out okay. If you've got any questions, feel free to review.**

**Actually, review even if you don't have questions. I **_**REALLY **_**appreciate the odd comment here and there, and it keeps me going, ya know?**

**Your reviews are like my energy drinks! Energy drinks? I've never had an energy drink. OO REVIEW! **

**P.S. Don't kill me! Kill the dream!**


	3. Don't Let Them Take Me

Last Chapter

_I turned once more to my Edward. I clutched his body to me, sobbing brokenly into his chest. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was my sobbing._

_But then, as my tears ran thin, and my cries diminished, I could hear something that rang out in the overpoweringly silent room._

_Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump._

_A…heartbeat?_

Chapter 3

Don't Let Them Take Me

**(B POV)**

The noise continued.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

It was unmistakable – definitely a heartbeat. But…that was impossible, wasn't it? No matter what Paul did, where he bit, clawed, or scratched, there was no way that a heart so long dormant could beat again. Was there?

"Edward?" I whispered. "Edward?"

No response. But he was alive, I was sure of it. More alive than he had been in a hundred years. His heart was beating.

Then I noticed movement. His muscular chest began to rise and fall, slowly but steadily. His lips were still slightly parted, and as I passed my trembling fingers over his face, I felt warm breath. He was alive.

I hadn't thought it possible, but more tears streamed down my cheeks in rapid succession. He was alive…my Edward was alive. We could be together, we could hold each other, kiss each other. Life would have a meaning.

But would it? Would he still love me? Would he still care for me when he woke up out of this coma thing?

_Would he even wake up?_

_Of course he will! _I chastised myself quickly. _Of course he will…_

But what will happen if – _when! When! _– he wakes up? Will he still be my Edward?

_Yes._

But he wouldn't be a vampire! He wouldn't be so strong, so hard, so cold. He wouldn't be any those things.

_But did those things ever really matter to you? _

_Of course they did! His strength ensured me of his safety; his coldness let me know he was there. His hardness was my comfort. _

But even then I knew. It _wasn't _the hardness, the strength, or the coldness of Edward that I loved so much. Those were the qualities he possessed, therefore I loved them.

_If he had new qualities, different qualities…would you still love him? Would you love whatever he becomes?_

_Yes. _

Edward had a beating heart. His eyes were no longer topaz. Somehow, by some strange miracle, Edward was human.

I knew I would accept the new Edward. I would love him with all that I had, with every bit of my heart. I would love him if he left me again, and I would love him when he came back.

I also knew that Edward loved me as I loved him. No matter what he was, nothing could ever change that.

But would his family accept his new self?

Would Edward?

I was shaken from my thoughts when I heard a loud crash from the front of the house. Turning, I saw a small figure standing in the doorway; the door was swinging loosely from a single rusty hinge.

It was Alice, her topaz eyes wide in horror. At first she looked at me, but when her gaze landed upon Edward's still form, her hands flew to her throat. "Edward," she choked out. She stumbled back against the wall, sinking to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut.

I could tell what she was doing. Trying to make everything go away, make everything that you couldn't see not happen. That had become a habit of mine when Edward had left me. I didn't know what to say, didn't know how to explain what had happened. Obviously, Alice didn't want Edward to be human.

"Bella. I…I'm so…so sorry. I didn't…didn't see…this." Alice crawled on her hands and knees toward me. Taking Edward's face in her cold, pale hands, she lightly kissed his forehead. Suddenly, she leaped back, a look of pure fright on her face.

"Alice?" I said uncertainly. "Alice, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer, but shook her head vigorously; eyes shut tight, and then opened them again. "He's…he's…_breathing. _I can hear a heartbeat…_his _heartbeat."

She looked at me; her eyes were wild. When she spoke, her words were jumbled and mixed together – I could hardly discern them, let alone get an intelligible or coherent response from her. "Bella…Bella, I'm going crazy – this is impossible – Bella, he's dead, he's dead Bella, but I see him – _alive! _Something's happening to me, Bella! What's happening to me, what's happening to me…_Bella, what's happening to me?!" _Her hands clutched at the sleeves of my bathrobe, and her head was buried in my lap. She sat there, legs tucked under her, shivering uncontrollably.

After I got over the initial shock of Alice's outburst, I hesitantly touched her head. "Alice," I said gently, "Alice, he's…I see it too. You're not crazy."

She didn't hear me. Then she looked up at me. I was horrified, and a little frightened, of what I saw.

Her dark golden eyes were glistening with tears – tears that didn't exist, tears that would never be shed. "Bella…" she whispered. "Don't let them take me…" She drew in a deep, ragged breath. "Don't let them take me! I'm crazy, Bella, I know, but _don't let them take me!"_

What was she talking about? She wasn't crazy – I saw it too. "Alice," I started hesitantly, "Alice, he's alive…he's…different, but can't we get past that? He's still Edward, he's alive, and that's all that matters."

It was as if she didn't hear me, as if she was so scared that she didn't realize what I was saying. Then…

"_DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME TO THE ASYLUM AGAIN!" _Huge, wracking sobs, that were surprising to come from a figure so small, emitted from her chest.

It hit me suddenly, what was happening. She thought she was seeing things…hallucinating…going insane. I hurried to comfort her, to make her see that it wasn't true.

"Alice, Alice, look at me," I cried desperately. She continued to sob into my lap. "Alice, _look at me_," I ordered. "_NOW." _I forced her quivering chin up to meet my gaze. "Alice. Edward is really breathing. His heart is beating. Somehow, he's not dead. NOT DEAD. Do you understand me? Edward is _alive_. You're _not _crazy."

A dawning look of comprehension and joy flitted across her face as a wave of realization washed over her. "I'm not…he's not dead…he's ALIVE!" She was a blur as she used her vampire speed to maneuver herself to Edward's other side. She slowly (for her) placed the palm of her hand on his chest. "Oh my God…he's human."

"I know…" I whispered. "Alice, will your family be okay with that?"

She didn't answer immediately. I began to hyperventilate – _was there something wrong? Would Edward be okay? What did she see? Did she hear me? What-_

"Alice?" I whispered once more. Her head swiveled around to meet my gaze. Her eyes were blank, unfocused. As quickly as they had come, the shadows left her eyes. She scrutinized me, weighing to see how much I could handle.

"Bella. Sorry about my little outburst there…I thought I was…" She touched her forehead lightly, smiling weakly. "Well. Enough of that. Edward is…well, he's human. Impossible as it may seem, somehow he is."  
I nodded; this much I had figured out on my own. There was only one question that I wanted answered, _needed _answered.

Alice, perceptive as she was, picked up on my un-voiced question. "Yes, Bella. He will remember his human life. I don't think he could forget the love of his life that quickly, silly," she said, grinning.

I sighed in relief. "What was your vision of, though?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

As usual.

"You know, Bella," Alice said nonchalantly. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Yeah, but satisfaction brought him back," I muttered, thinking she couldn't hear me.

Alice's bell-like laughter proved me otherwise. Grimacing, I turned to her.

"What are we going to do with him?" I asked, ruining the mood.

"We need to take him to Carlisle, immediately," said Alice seriously. Fearing that something extremely bad was going to happen that I didn't know about, I gulped. Alice just laughed at me. "No, silly, he'll be fine – I Saw it," she said, winking. Her smile vanished. "But he does need to be taken care of. If we make the wrong decisions, or take careless actions, something could go wrong."

"Like what?" I asked fearfully, twisting my long brown hair into an ugly knot.

"If we don't hurry, he might be fully human before we reach Carlisle." As Alice said this, she effortlessly lifted Edward's limp body into her thin arms.

"And that would be bad?"

"Abominably." She whipped her keys out of her black jacket pocket and motioned me to follow after her. I attempted to close the door behind me; I failed miserably. Alice sighed, shaking her head. I could swear she muttered, "Some things never change." In one lithe movement, she grabbed the thick, rusted key from my hand, slammed the broken door with a loud 'bang', and locked it, a feat that I was in awe of; it normally took me about a minute to shut the door. Locking it was a whole different matter.

"Bella, get in the middle seat." I complied, buckling my seatbelt as quickly as I could. Once I was strapped in, Alice carefully slid Edward's barely breathing body onto the seat next to me. She paused, looking at me appraisingly.

"Nah, you'll have too hard of a time holding him upright." She changed his position, resting his head in my arms. "There. He'd like that…" she trailed off, and an overwhelming sadness filled her eyes. "Oh, Bella…what if…what if he…" Again, she broke off, more abruptly this time. The sadness in her eyes was now replaced with a hard determination. She set her jaw, and, taking a deep breath, shut my door, opened her own, jumped in, started the car, and shut her door in the space of one second.

My jaw dropped. "Wow, Alice…that was…_fast_." I was so startled that I wasn't scared of her amazing vampiric abilities, as I normally would have been. "Faster than _Edward_."

Alice chuckled darkly. "Although he's not very fast right now, is he?" she commented, throwing a quick glance at his head resting on my lap.

Silence.

A depressing gloom had filled the car, contrasting its shiny yellow exterior. Alice must have sensed it, because her tiny pixie's foot pressed even harder, if possible, upon the gas pedal.

**A/N – Hey, ya'll! Sorry it's been FOREVER…I had so much going on. This is a bit of a filler chapter. Hopefully it'll take way less time to update again….again, I'm super sorry!**


	4. Shock

Last Chapter: 

_A depressing gloom had filled the car, contrasting its shiny yellow exterior. Alice must have sensed it, because her tiny pixie's foot pressed even harder, if possible, upon the gas pedal._

Chapter 4

Shock

**(B POV)**

Alice sped down the small streets of Forks at highly dangerous speeds. If I were in any other situation, I would have commented, complained, even threatened. But now, the fact that if we were to crash going this fast we would die on impact seemed rather trivial.

The only thing that mattered was my Edward, my love.

Alice had said that it was crucial to get Edward to Carlisle as quickly as possible. I did not like to think of what would happen if we weren't fast enough.

Whizzing past the trees that lined the roads, I had no time to think. I was too frantic, too frightened, to do anything but clutch Edward's face, my love's face, my _life's _face to my chest.

All I could think of was that if something happened to Edward, if he _died_…then I would cease to exist. No, I wouldn't kill myself. But I would die. I would die as surely as a bird does, shot out of the air with a single bullet.

Because I was like that bird. Small and weak, perhaps, but I was flying. Soaring high into the sky on my beautiful feathered wings. Gliding, twirling, laughing, singing. Joyful, bright…_happy_. Edward gave me both the wings and the feelings of pure bliss. Edward was my everything; he was my angel. If Edward died, I would fall from the sky; not to return to my previous state of being land-bound, but to crash to the earth. I would have absolutely no chance of survival; even if my body continued to live, my soul would die with Edward.

We reached the Cullen's mansion, after what seemed like an eternity, but the house didn't seem so lovely anymore. No longer could I appreciate the beauty that surrounded me; the only beauty _I _cared about was the one that was laying, unmoving, face-up on my lap.

"Carlisle!" Alice called as she pushed the driver's door open, hopping to her feet; her voice was more high-pitched than usual with increasing worry for Edward. Her face pointed up to look directly at a window at the top of the house that I recognized as Carlisle's study. I saw a shape momentarily at the window, and then it was gone.

It could have been a second later that Carlisle ran blurringly fast out the front door of the house, or it could have been an hour. I was aware of nothing but the constant fear that threatened to overwhelm my trembling body. I felt cold hands pulling me out of the car, first trying to remove Edward's body from my arms. When I held on stubbornly, the hands gave up and instead pulled both me and Edward onto the wet asphalt.

Then I heard, "Oh, God, Edward!" Esme's voice, so gentle, so kind, was shrill and unmistakably horrified.

I repeated her words in my head over and over again, the words that I had been thinking ever since the moment I had seen my love lying on the hard linoleum floor in Charlie's kitchen. _Oh, God, Edward! Oh, God… Edward! Edward! Oh, Edward, oh, God…oh, God…Edward…_

I blacked out.

When I awoke, Esme was holding me against her, running her fingers through my hair in a calming, rhythmic motion. Alice was on my other side, holding my hand. My eyes, blinking in confusion at the sudden light, squinted and reopened in an attempt to adjust to my surroundings. The three of us were on a long, black, leather couch – the couch in Edward's room – and soft music was playing in the background, falsely cheery compared to my dismal mood.

Suddenly wide-eyed, my head whipped around to face Alice. Ripping my hand from hers, I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her as roughly as I could manage.

I shrieked, my voice several octaves above its norm, "Is he okay? Please, Alice, tell me he's okay! What's happening? Is he going to be all right? Is he human now? Oh, Alice, PLEASE! Please, please, _please _tell me!" My voice, suddenly hoarse, diminished to a frightfully throaty whisper. "_Please_…"

Thoroughly alarmed and severely taken aback, Alice quickly recovered from the initial shock of my terrified pleading. She took my pallid, pasty, quivering face in her delicate hands.

"It's all right, Bella, he's going to be okay." She hesitated. "He's going to be a little…different…and we're all going to have to adjust…but he'll be okay."

_Different? What does she mean, _different?

I voiced my question aloud.

"What does 'different' mean, Alice?" I asked in a calm tone, struggling to keep my voice level.

She took my hand in hers.

"Just that…he'll be human…he'll age…" Her voice cracked on the last word, and suddenly she was having extreme difficulty in getting the words out. "Oh, B-bella….he's been with us…for…forever! But now…he'll get old…and…and…" She broke off, unable to finish.

"He'll die," I finished for her quietly, tonelessly. Alice and Esme were silent.

And he would – it was inevitable. I was so selfish; I couldn't believe that I had actually been _happy _that he was changing back into a human for the first time in nearly a century. I couldn't believe I was happy that we could be together, and he wouldn't be tempted by my blood…so he wouldn't be in the situation he compared to a drug addict faced with heroin…_his _brand of heroin…

But he wouldn't have to do what was so despicable in his eyes…he wouldn't have to bite me…

I was such a monster…how _can_ this be good? How can _anything _about this be good? I'm now taking him away from his _family, _those people who have loved him and cared for him for a century. Who am I, to take him away from these wonderful people he has known for so long?

"I know what you're feeling, Bella, and you're being stupid," came a sour voice from the hallway.

My head turned towards the voice. It was Jasper, leaning against the wooden door frame.

"Wha…what do you…?" I stuttered, peeved that he had snuck up on me without my knowledge. _Then again, he _is_ a vampire. And still is. Although Edward is not_. Guilt washed through me again; it was all my fault…why, oh _why _did Edward have to be torn away from his family to be with someone like me for a couple years till we grew old and died in a happy retirement home? Why? _Why?_

"Stop it, Bella, gosh dammit!" he yelled, pushing off from the frame of the door. He stood, glaring at me intently, eyes narrowed, hands balled into fists at his sides. "Don't feel guilty for this! How the hell do you get the feeling that this is your fault? Dammit! This is _good, _Bella, he _loves you. _Don't you get it? He'd sacrifice _anything _to be with you this way! And every single one of us would give anything for him to get this! For him to be with you – to get married, have kids, and grow old – why can't you just appreciate something when it's given to you? Nothing's perfect, Bella! Nothing! Nothing but one thing." He paused, taking a very deep breath that was clearly intended to calm himself down.

I took a shaking breath of my own, but couldn't quite find my voice, so I gave Jasper a slight, hesitant nod, signaling him to continue.

"_Love,_" he said. "Love, Bella, is the one perfect thing in the universe. _True _love. The love that you and Edward share; I know it, I feel it. It's the love that Alice and I share, Emmett and Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme…it's _true_, Bella, and it never fails. _Nothing _will stop you from being together. So treat this like the miracle it is." With a fluid motion, he strode across the room until he was directly in front of me. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he said, "Don't you ever forget that, Bella."

I nodded, tears glazing my vision. "Thank you, Jasper," I whispered hoarsely.

Alice, who was on the far side of the squashy leather couch, froze. She stared out the window. I stared at her, alarmed.

Many words formed upon her lips as she spoke at vampire speed to her husband. When her mouth stopped moving, she grabbed Jasper's arm and they raced at record speed out of the room. Out of the many words Alice had just said, so fast it could be considered vampire dialect, I only caught one recognizable word.

_Werewolves._

So quickly it surprised even myself, I flew up from the couch and rushed to the window that covered the entire expanse of the wall.

Sure enough, trudging along the grass, headed towards the quaint front door of the Cullen's mansion, were three half-naked men; each one of them wore a pair of cut-off shorts and nothing else.

In the front was Jacob. This surprised me; Sam normally headed the pack. His face was torn between two expressions. One was determined, the other worried – perhaps even frightened.

Behind him was Sam; it was as if his face had a dark shadow over it. His expression was that of a rock – cold, gray, uncaring. I grimaced – bitter Sam.

Quil trailed behind, bringing up the rear. He glanced repeatedly between the way from which they had came and the door looming in front of them.

They reached the front door. The bell rang.

Once. Twice.

It opened. I wasted no more time; I hurried down the stairs, not bothering to attempt to be sneaky or even halfway quiet.

Emmett had answered the door. Not the best idea, considering his muscular build could definitely be considered threatening. At least, in most company it would. Normal company.

But this was not normal company. The three half-naked men weren't normal, weren't human. They were werewolves, and weren't in the least bit intimidated by Emmett's size or muscle.

A house full of vampires…these guys could handle it. That's why they came, and not Embry or Paul.

It appeared that nobody had said a single word. It was silent – well, except for the incessant growling that was being exchanged between Emmett, Jacob, Jasper, Quil, and even the perfect blonde Rosalie. This concerned me; whatever reasons Jacob and company had for being in my house, whatever stupid comment made Paul go all funky and attack Edward, right now I didn't care – if anybody else got hurt, I don't know what I would do. I cared about every one of them – every werewolf, every vampire. And I would die by inches before letting any of them be hurt.

When I reached the bottom step, all nine heads swiveled towards me in one swift motion.

"Look," I said in a small voice. "I really don't want anyone…anyone else hurt here." Jake tried to catch my gaze, but I shook it off. I knew his eyes would hold either sympathy or remorse. Or perhaps it would hurt more if they held _no _remorse…no care. "So can we abandon the hostilities for now and get down to…to whatever?"

Jacob looked me over, took in my tear-stained face, my wrinkled clothing (Alice had apparently gotten me into other clothing than my bathrobe when I was unconscious; it was clear that she sought to keep me calm – the clothes were non-descript, non-designer, and hopefully non-expensive) and grimaced. "Bella…" he whispered. He tried to say more, but I cut him off with a glare.

"Jacob," I began, my tone cutting. I tried to sound as if I was sure, confident, and strong. I wasn't –far from it. I was weak, and scared. So horribly scared…

"Care to tell me what exactly you were doing in my house? And now what you are doing _here_, at the supposedly no-werewolf, off-limits vampire residence? And why did…did…" My voice cracked, betraying my tough cover to the weakness in me that should have been obvious to anybody, let alone one who had known me better than anyone else for a few months' period.

Jake's face crumpled in pain, and, shoving past Emmett and Rosalie, Alice and Jasper, all of whom lined the entrance, he walked briskly to stand in front of me, stopping a few feet away.

The vampires shifted, wary, constantly watching, ready for anything. I saw Alice's eyes flickering from Sam to Jacob to Quil. I saw Emmett give me a half-smile of encouragement. But after that, all eyes were on me, nobody moving, expressions anxious, unchanging. My expression was unchanging as well.

My expression was frozen in an accusing, hurt glare directed at Jacob's chest.

"Well?" I whispered up towards him, my gaze not quite meeting his.

"Bella, I…I…I didn't know…we didn't…I…Paul didn't…"

"Paul didn't what, Jacob? He didn't mean it?" I asked harshly. "Because I've got news for you, Jacob Black. I don't care! I only want to know one thing!" I paused, taking a step closer and grabbing two fistfuls of his shirt in my shaking hands. My fists were clenched so tight that the skin stretched over my knuckles to make them a bright white. "What the hell happened in that house, Jacob? What happened? Why did…why did Paul…attack Edward?" I choked out, my voice no longer strong and sure. I could no longer keep my grasp on his shirt; my hands fell weakly to my side. I glanced up at him, but couldn't raise my head high enough to look at him straight. I ended up looking through my eyelashes with delicate tears trembling hesitantly on the tips, unsure of whether now was a proper time to fall or not. Well, let them fall. Let Jacob feel guilty for what happened…he should feel at least a small portion of my immeasurable pain.

Jacob was at a loss for words. "Bella…Bella, I…we-"

"Jacob." Sam's voice came from the back of the room; I had almost forgotten that he and Quil were there. By the somewhat surprised looks on the faces of the vampires, they had forgotten about him, as well.

Jacob turned to look at Sam. "Yeah, Sam?" he answered in an unusually quiet voice, for him at least, and then coughed to clear his scratchy-sounding throat.

Sam continued. "You may want to have Bella sit down on the couch – I don't think it could be very easy for _any _of us to be standing up right now." He said this all in a slow, reasonable tone, looking out at each person/vampire/werewolf in turn. I hated it when he used that tone – it made me feel so inferior, like he thought he was better just because he was nineteen and had some serious muscle. I knew that wasn't true; I knew that Sam talked like that because he was the leader, he controlled the pack.

But that didn't mean I couldn't get annoyed by it.

Anyway, sitting down sounded like a good idea, so I made my way to the sofa in the middle of the room. My legs were shaky, and because of this, they gave out, and I tumbled downwards. Just before my head made intimate contact with the floor, two darkly tanned arm shot out to stop my fall. As Jacob righted me, I thought of all those times that Edward had done the same thing as a reflex to my overly clumsy self. (Really. I think that while many people say their feet have a mind of their own, my feet don't have a mind, and aren't even connected to my own brain.) All those times Edward had caught me…and I couldn't even be a teensy bit grateful that Jacob had caught me. I would rather have fallen to the floor and cracked my head open.

Because, while I loved Jake…I loved Edward more. Jacob was not...he just wasn't Edward.

If things had been normal, maybe Jake and I would be together.

If things had been normal, where mythical creatures don't run around the forests of tiny, otherwise inconsequential towns, then maybe I could have loved him as he deserved.

But things weren't normal – far from it, in fact.

There were werewolves who gave their lives to be 'protectors'. Werewolves who would become a simple girl's best friend, werewolves who could do freaky werewolf things like healing fast, running at incredible speeds, never aging…

Then there were vampires who devoted their existences to abstaining from human blood. Vampires who spent time dating average, plain-looking human girls. Vampires who fell in love with the aforementioned human girls.

There were vampires who were bent on revenge that involved killing one Bella Swan.

In a world like this, Jacob didn't stand a chance. Because Edward…well, he was _Edward._

And although I loved Jake, Edward was so much more.

Jacob noticed as I flinched away from his grasp, backing up as soon as he let go. His eyebrows pulled together, and his dark eyes shone with an ancient sadness that no one but him could comprehend. The back of my legs hit the edge of the living room sofa, and I sat slowly down, waiting for the others to follow my example.

They complied with my un-asked request - all except for Sam, who remained standing in the corner of the room, face washed in shadow.

Everyone was talking at once. Quil to Jacob, though Jacob was staring at me, Esme to Jasper, Emmett to Rosalie. The noise was deafening. That bugged me. Everyone in the room besides me had extreme hearing; couldn't they just be quiet? I felt a huge headache coming on.

Emmett shoved the three couches around the room so that they created a lopsided triangle, for easier communication, I supposed. My mouth twitched slightly as he finished; he smiled proudly at Rosalie, puffing up his chest as he did so. She rolled her eyes at him, but walked over and planted a kiss on his eager lips. As they broke apart, she looked past Emmett's muscular shoulder at me – smiling, for the first time, a real, honest-to-goodness smile of encouragement and support. I returned it, but it faltered. My emotions were going crazy.

As I thought this, I looked at Jasper – he looked back at me and grimaced. "Jeez, Bella, tone it down with the freaky emotions."

"Sorry," I said.

"Well, maybe it would help if everyone would just _shut up, _vampires, werewolves, and not humans, because Bella's not saying anything,'cause for some_ freakin' _reason, I think Bella wants to know what happened! I think we all do!" said Alice firmly, arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.

Jacob cleared his throat unhappily. "Well, Bella…everybody," he amended, halfway glancing at the vampires, "I…what happened is mainly my fault." As he continued his story, the story that could have ended up with my love gone, his voice grew stronger, more powerful. "It was my all my fault; I shouldn't have made Paul so mad."

Quil interjected, "Hey, Jake, don't be so hard on yourself. It's not like Paul's temper is very easily aroused or anything." He rolled his eyes; his voice dripped thickly with sarcasm. It was a weak attempt to lighten the mood; however, there was some reaction. Emmett's mouth twitched, while Rosalie graced the room and all its inhabitants with her second smile in my presence of the day.

Sam's face remained impassive; his eyes, however, bore into the wall, a strangely unnatural sadness lurking in their depths.

Jacob coughed, bringing the slightly diverted attention back to him. "Hem. Anyway, I got Paul mad, and he phased. We had just been talking about, well, you Cullens." (The vampires smiled at this reference to themselves; 'You Cullens' was not a way they had ever been referred to before.) He coughed again. "And, well, Bella too. So Paul was so angry that he made a crazy decision to run over to your house, Bella, to see if…if Edward…was there. Please understand that decisions made when you are an outraged werewolf aren't really your own; they are the product of your anger, and they don't make sense if your anger doesn't.

"We knew that Paul had a definite chance of, um…hurting…Edward if he caught him unawares; we didn't want that."

Well, at least he cared _that _much about Edward. He liked him just enough so that he didn't want him to be killed.

"So Sam issued a few quick orders: phase, run to Bella's, get Paul out of there. Make sure no one…no one gets hurt." His eyes flickered to mine, and I looked away pointedly. Sighing, he continued, "We phased, we ran – and heard the sound of fight. Crashing through into the house, we came in just in time to see Paul…his teeth around Edward's neck, sinking them further and further into the granite skin."

I cringed against the couch, my legs curling up to my chest. _Oh, Edward…poor, poor, Edward…_

"Ripping Paul off of him, we got him to phase back, as did we all. But Paul was still angry. He was shaking horribly, worse than we'd ever seen him – probably 'cause he hadn't finished the job yet. And then... Oh, God," he said, his voice suddenly down to a whisper. "Then Bella…you came down the stairs – ran down them, more like – and saw him…like that…all limp, all crumpled. And you cried, and…" he broke off, shaking his head back and forth miserably, trying to rid himself of the horrifying memory. "What am I saying? You don't want to hear this…"

There was a silence that rang throughout the room.

Quil spoke up softly. "Please, Bella, don't…don't…it's not his fault, he didn't mean it…"

Jacob joined his 'brother'. "Bella…please don't…don't blame him…" He looked at me with his pleading, dark eyes.

"Don't blame Paul? Why not? He almost killed my fiancée!" My voice, however soft, was accusatory.

"I know, Bella, I know! I'm sorry – I'm so sorry!" Jacob's hand stretched out to me, and I was reminded of the time, a time that seemed so long ago, where I had reached for him, and he had held me up. His face was tortured; his eyes wild with self-hate.

A surprised voice came once again from the shadows in the corner of the room. "What do you mean, Bella? Paul _almost _killed your fiancée?"

The werewolves stared at me in shock. Hope flitted across their faces.

"Yes, almost. He's…he's…" I was unable to finish.

"He's human." Carlisle walked into the room, his face lit brightly, although the emotions playing in his eyes were conflicting, if not unreadable.

I sighed guiltily to myself, and Jasper shot me a warning glare. I smiled feebly at him, and then immediately turned my gaze back to Carlisle. I noticed that everyone else was looking at him intently as well.

Carlisle took a deep breath. "And he's awake."

**(A/N) Wow, that took forever. Please note that I am deeply aggrieved that it took so long to update…I always seem to end at cliffies, do I not? Ah, well, maybe I won't next time! Please, review – remember, constructive criticism only! Reviews are very much appreciated; they are my energy drinks. Look! A semi-colon! ; **


	5. A Little Extra Help

**Disclaimer: La-la-lalala! I-don't-own anything! sings in weak attempt at a super-spiffy, cool-sounding disclaimer that will blow everyone's socks off, realizing too late that it has blown everyone's ears off due to intonation issues and major lack of creativity **_**I've forgotten the disclaimer on every single chapter…I thought 'what they hay, might as well make it pathetic. Look! A semicolon! ;**_

Last Chapter

_Carlisle took a deep breath. "And he's awake." _

Chapter 5

A Little Extra Help

**(B POV)**

Carlisle guided me (along with my shaking legs) down the hallway to the room where Edward had lain, his cool arm wrapped around my shoulders, calming me.

Of course, I didn't stop to thank him as we reached the room. I forgot all else but Edward.

_My Edward…_

Carlisle pushed open the door. He removed his arm from around my shoulders; at the absence of reassurance, my trembling hands flew back to the doctor, forming a death grip around his arm.

Chuckling half-heartedly, he said softly, "Edward? It's Bella and I."

The room behind us had gone silent. I was sure that both species behind me could hear my frantically pounding heart.

The open doorway was right there – all I had to do was walk forward and to the right, and I would see him again. _Edward…Edward…_ I wanted to see him so badly. But my body wouldn't move – couldn't move.

"Bella?"

Edward. It was Edward's voice. My Edward's voice. It gave me strength. Just to hear him, to hear his beautiful, still velvety (it was almost unintelligibly more scratchy; compared to normal humans, his voice would still be the most perfect), gave me reason to live.

Needing no further invitation, I flung myself away from Carlisle and into the room; as I was airborne, I had a clear view of him. Edward.

He lay on the doctor's table, surrounded by blankets and cushions. (It looked like the Cullens were anxious to keep the new human comfortable.) Pillows were piled behind his head; he paid them no mind. He was sitting straight up, blankets in wild disarray, his hair a tangled mess of bronze, his wide emerald eyes staring at me intently.

A normal doctor would probably have concluded that he was sickly; and indeed, he looked it. His face wasn't just pale – it was deathly, a terrible pasty look that didn't suit his angular, handsome face. He was still muscular, but was also abnormally thin. A gruesome red scar ran along from his jawbone down, disappearing under his plain white t-shirt.

I fell out of the air and into his half-blanketed lap.

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me as tightly as (humanly) possible. He grabbed my face earnestly, eyes begging me silently for acceptance. I smiled, though tears streamed freely down my face.

"Bella," he whispered softly inside my hair. I didn't respond; instead, I reached the back of my hand to stroke his – now warm – cheek.

"Edward…" I whispered, "Edward…you're real…you're really here…you're…"

Edward placed his long fingers to my lips.

"Don't say anything. Just…don't." My eyebrows pulled together in confusion and hurt. My eyes questioned him.

Edward removed his pale hand from my mouth, his expression turning from longing to horrified in a split second.

"No!" he cried. "No, Bella, that's not what I meant – not at all." His fingers moved to my hair, combing through it gently, somehow managing to tangle it more.

"Then, what did you mean?" I questioned, still lost in his brilliant green eyes.

He leaned in close to me, sweet breath fanning over my face, cooling my and heating me at the same time. How I longed for him – to hold him, to be with him, to touch his hair, his face, his lips…How I needed him.

"I meant…this." And he pulled my face to his for a kiss.

As we broke apart, both of us gasping for breath, Edward said, "Strange…to have to breathe." I tried to break in, to apologize for letting this happen to him, for him having been hurt, for my weakness, not being able to protect him, but he cut me off.

"I kind of like it. No, I really like it. Being human. Everything seems so much…so much more…more real."

"Yes," I agreed, settling myself into his arms. "It really does."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shape whizzing through the air towards Edward; I sat up straight, and upon seeing my reaction, he did as well.

"EDWARD!" screamed Alice, pulling her brother close to her seemingly fragile body. Then, after hugging him for a moment, eyes squeezed shut in relief, she turned to me.

"Sorry, Bella," she chirped in her chime-like voice, "but you can't have him _all _to yourself."

Edward placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Actually, Alice…yes, she can. And I'm glad I'm still alive, too."

Alice glared, but within a second of giving him the evil eye, her expression returned to its original enthusiastic state.

I'd bet my life she was born smiling.

By this point, the entire Cullen family was in the room; me sitting on the bed next to Edward, holding his hand; Alice on his right side, bouncing up and down repetitively, Esme stroking her first son's face fondly; Emmett thumping Edward gently on the back; Carlisle at his wife's shoulder, reading a monitor on the other side of the room; Rosalie standing next to Alice, staring at Edward with what I assumed to be sisterly love; and lastly, Jasper, who stood in the corner, away from everyone else.

Edward, realizing this at the same time as I, said, "Jasper? It's okay. I understand – believe me."

Jasper didn't meet anyone's gaze; he stared at the floor in shame.

"I'm sorry, Edward. I want to come over there…but you…blood…I won't risk your life. Not ever. Not for anything. You're my brother…I just…I wish I didn't…the blood…"

"Hey," said Emmett in his 'I'm going to be reasonable and sort everyone's problems out' tone. "It's not Edward's fault that he smells so good."

"If that was supposed to make me feel better," Jasper said miserably, "then you really suck at that. I'm the empathic vampire, remember?"

"Yeah, and you're doing a crappy job of it!" Emmett roared; Esme glared at him. He modified his volume and continued. "You can't even control you own friggin' emotions, Jazz! How the hell are you supposed to live like that?"

"I don't know," Jasper replied, again in the same slow, monotonous voice.

"Jasper," Edward said exasperatedly. "It's okay. _Really_. Remember, I almost killed Bella. She forgave me, didn't she? She said there was nothing to forgive. That's true, Jasper, _nothing to forgive_. As you said, I'm you're brother. And you're mine. I almost killed Bella, Jasper. She forgave me. I don't feel bad about it."

Jasper cocked an eyebrow at him. "Uh…yes, you do."

Edward narrowed his eyes. "A trivial, inconsequential fact, my brother. Point in case: Don't feel bad."

"And how are you supposed to know whether I feel bad or not?" challenged Jasper. "You can't read minds anymore."

"Thank God," Edward muttered. "This family gets some really…well, beyond PG-13 thoughts at times. The only person whose mind I actually wanted to read has a mind that was closed to me." He reached over and tweaked my nose lightly, then snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me on top of him.

Pleased with this, I snuggled in close to his body.

Emmett made a retching sound, whereupon Rosalie smacked his arm. "Emmett – it's sweet," she reproved, a fondness in her voice that I was unused to.

Emmett was silent for a moment. Then he said quietly, "Yes…yeah, it is."

For the first time during the conversation, (excluding the rejoicing over Edward being alive bit), Esme spoke. "But…Carlisle, dear…this shouldn't be possible. Is this kind of thing mentioned anywhere in your books?"

Although Carlisle had three centuries worth of literature on his shelves, I found it unlikely that before now, a werewolf had attacked a vampire and both survived. I was right.

As soon as Esme began to ask her question, Carlisle started shaking his head. "No – nothing. This is weird, but…he should have died. He should have died when Bella thought he did." There was a collective recoiling throughout the vampire family. "In fact, I have reason to believe that he did."

All occupants of the room stared at him blankly. All except Emmett, who stared at his adoptive father incredulously.

"What the hell does that mean?" he demanded bluntly. (Esme kicked him for his language; the sharp look she gave him probably scared him into submission more than the physical violence from his adoptive mother.)

"Yes," joined in Rosalie, "how is that even _possible_?"

"It's not!" insisted Emmett.

Everyone began talking at once; that is, until Carlisle raised a single, pale hand, calling for silence.

"It's _not _possible. That's what I'm trying to say."

"So you mean Edward's dead?" At this, my head snapped toward my love. _No! Not Edward! He has to be real – he has to be! _"Right now? As in we're all hallucinating?! I've never been one to hallucinate, Rose honey, but this sure as hell seems real!"

Emmett continued to mumble to himself things such as, "I could swear my life was real!" and, "Are you real, Rose?" Upon which note, he promptly poked her. "Yep, you're real enough…"

Carlisle rolled his eyes. "No, Emmett, you are not hallucinating."

"Then what _is _happening? Since it is technically impossible?" asked Jasper. "Father…none of us understand."

"Ah…think back on what you just said," replied Carlisle.

"What is happening?"

"No, no – after that," Carlisle amended.

"Father…none of us understand?"  
'Yes!" Carlisle cried, victory evident in his voice, an unusually smug smile on his face.

Everyone continued to stare at him unblinkingly.

"Still don't get it," muttered Emmett. "Rose, am I being stupid?" he asked, appealing to his stunning wife.

"Yes," she said. "Now, dear husband, be quiet – let Carlisle finish."

Emmett pouted.

"You see!" Carlisle continued, getting more animated as each word rolled off his tongue, faster and faster. "Father. It's not possible. But…_all things are possible."_

"So, what you're saying is…God?" I asked, comprehension crashing down on me like a three hundred foot wave on a llama. Ouch.

Carlisle nodded. "I think we had a little extra help today. A little extra help…from up above."

Esme put a hand over her heart, closing her eyes in grateful thanksgiving. "Oh, dear Lord…all things are possible through God. Thank you. For everything."

"For Edward," I added.

"For love," added Jasper, walking towards Alice and pulling her close. She sighed into his chest. Edward hugged me, kissing me softly.

"Bella," he breathed into my ear. "Bella…I will hold you from now on."

"For forever," I replied softly, "will I love you."

"I will hold you until the day I die." At these words, I knew I would be with Edward forever – I knew that should I die, he would too. We were connected, we were perfect. We were whole, because we had each other.

_I will hold you until the day I die. _

Let's hope that's not anytime soon, shall we?

**(A/N) Well, that was a quick update. I need your opinion – I'm going to end this story in a few chapters. As in, one or two. So. Just to clear things up, the werewolves are still outside the room. They will appear possibly in the next chapter if I have two chapters; they won't if I only have one. So. Should I include Edward and Bella's marriage? Or have a small section on it in the last chapter, reflecting on the wedding? Tell me in your reviews! If I only get two reviews, like normal…well, I will take forever trying to figure out which option to go with. And just to let you know…I'm getting more story alerts than reviews. If you like it enough to alert it, please, please, please review! Give me constructive criticism – as one of my friends worded it, "Don't be a crazy editor and yell, 'Look! You missed a comma!'" Tell me what you like – a favorite sentence or whatever. Look! A semi-colon! ; You like the semi-colon? The "go" button is pretty darn spiffy, too!**


	6. Together Forever?

**Hey, ya'll! This is the last chapter!**

**Disclaimer -LOOK! That little kid across the street has a semi-colon! Shifty eyes Runs back across the street Now I have a semi-colon! Yay! ; **

**However, I do not own: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, or other genius works of Stephenie Meyer. I do not own Edward. Heck, I don't even own Jacob. All I have is a semi-colon. ;**

Last Chapter

I will hold you until the day I die_. Let's hope that's not anytime soon, shall we?_

"_It's what we're here for. It's what we're made of._

_What we fight for, and hope for, and live for is love."_

– _Excerpt from the poem Love, written by Anonymous._

Chapter 6

Together…Forever?

"What do you want for dinner?" I called out from the Cullen's spacious kitchen area. "Chicken or pork chops?" Silence followed this question, save for the car tires screeching in Emmett's X-Box, accompanied by groans of misery or whoops of triumphs (those were rare) in the appropriate stages of the game.

After Edward had been transformed back into a human, the Cullens (namely Emmett) had gone on a shopping spree. Emmett had run all around the grocery store, buying everything he deemed necessary for Edward and I. Esme followed him, collecting instead of things such as a gallon bucket of lima beans or several packages of kitty litter, items that we might actually use. However, neither Emmett nor Esme had thought to get meat. Whatever Edward wanted for dinner, we would have to make a trip of our own to get.

I sighed. Shaking my head in mock sorrow at my vampire family's lack of grocery-shopping knowledge, I wiped my soapy hands (due to strenuous dishwashing) off with a pink and purple plaid towel, dropping it on the counter and heading into the massive family room.

"Edward?" I asked, entering the room. I looked around. "Where is he?" I said, addressing Emmett, who was seated next to Jasper on the leather couch in front of the X-Box, his eyes locked intently on the game before him. Both his and Jasper's fingers were whizzing across the buttons of their game controllers.

"I dunno," he said hurriedly, "but I can't talk. Jasper's beaten me ten times in a row and I won't let that happen," – Jasper pushed a button and relaxed his formerly rigid pose – "again." Emmett sighed, slumping in defeat. "Damn, Jasper, why the hell do you always win?" he complained, glaring at his brother.

Jasper snickered. "Because you're so fun to beat." Emmett growled, and a vampire wrestling match ensued. I decided it would be best to leave the premises of the room.

Laughing as I scrambled back into the kitchen, I yelled out to whoever could hear me, "Edward! What do you want for dinner?!" I heard the front door open; it creaked as Edward closed it swiftly behind him. His footsteps were rushed; he sprinted down the hall to the kitchen and scooped me into his arms in one motion. He proceeded to plant kisses all over my face, neck, shoulders, and hair. I could barely breathe for joy.

"Mmm…hello, sweetheart," he said, pressing his now soft lips to mine. He drew back, entwining our hands together. "How 'bout chicken?"

But I hadn't heard him. I was too immersed in his emerald green eyes. I wasn't used to them being that color – it was so different from their normal topaz. Or black. In fact, the rest of him was very different as well. The change back into a human had done just that – changed him.

Although, as a human, Edward was still excruciatingly beautiful.

His face, though not as hard to the touch, was still sharp, angular. His glorious bronze hair had not diminished in its peculiar hue, nor its luxurious texture. His chest was still defined and muscular, as were his arms, his legs. And he was warm; he was soft. He was human.

Even though I used to think that Edward was impossibly beautiful – which he was – now he was even more so. There was no question about it.

Maybe it was because now he was part of my own species, so we were more compatible then a hunter and the hunted.

Maybe it was because I appreciated and loved him all the more, now that I had seen him torn so unwillingly away from me, and life itself.

Maybe, but I think it was because he was now where he belonged. He was born over a century too early. Now he was with me, and he was content. (More than content, he constantly reminded me. He was in sheer and utter happiness.)

If this was where he was supposed to be, then I would be happy for the rest of my life.

On our wedding day, he had proclaimed _me _to be the most beautiful creature on the face of the planet. I disagreed, naturally, but couldn't find the voice to deny his accusation – I was lost in his depthless eyes, as green as the forests of Forks, as ancient as the winds of time. As beautiful as life.

Perhaps I was not 'the most beautiful creature on the face of the planet', but even I had to admit that Alice and Rosalie were workers of magic.

My chocolate brown hair was curled into tiny ringlets, and was unusually shiny (though not in the way of too much greasy conditioner) and sprinkled with five glittering hair clips.

I had barely any make-up on – and absolutely no blush. When Alice had informed the others of this, Emmett let out a booming laugh. Rosalie giggled, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. "Oh, Bella," she sighed, still giggling. Edward grinned, then placed his perfect lips over mine…

And my wedding gown! I was terrified that Alice would pick something that was a little…overboard. Or gauzy, or bright, or untraditional. Some freaky wedding dress off of a runway. I calmed myself with the knowledge that Alice, who could be a tad over eccentric, always picked things in good taste.

And I was not disappointed. It was a simple, strapless dress, (crème with pale blue ribbon wrapped around my waist, bow tied in the small of my back). It was tight against my torso and hung from my hips, cascading in gentle waves to my feet. (Alice took the hem of the front less than a centimeter off the floor; somehow, it was impossible for even me, klutz extraordinaire, to trip on it.) The train was constructed from a thin, veil-like material that sparkled like little diamonds. Edward forbade me from wearing the traditional veil that Alice had wanted me to wear; he said that he would not stand another moment without seeing my face.

As ridiculous as these and other comments like them were, they made me feel wonderfully happy.

Because from the moment I saw him that day – dressed in black and white, smiling, with tears filling his emerald eyes – on our wedding day, I knew he loved me. And I knew that nothing could – or would – ever change that.

Besides the dress, there were other reasons as to why I was so pleased and impressed by Alice.

For one, the guest list had been shortened from the entire expanse of the global population down to fewer than five hundred people. Still not near my vision of the ideal 'small' wedding, but if it made Alice happy…and I _had _promised her she could do my wedding. I did add 'within reason', as an afterthought, but that was as she was skipping joyfully away. She, as a vampire, didn't have the excuse 'I didn't hear you', but I knew she would just barely cut the border of 'reason' for this wedding.

I began to get a bit worried when I noticed that Alice was keeping something for me. She kept mumbling to herself "w, w, w" like some sort of secret code. When I confronted her about it, she smiled and said, "I only wish."  
So I turned to the person who was most likely to know all about it. Jasper told me that Alice had always wanted something for me that she called 'W.W.W.' This made no sense to me, so I questioned him.

Jasper told me it was code for "World-Wide Wedding".

I stomped upstairs and glared at Alice until she apologized. Then she asked (jokingly, I think) if the wedding could at least be located in Europe. Edward, who had been coming up the stairs after me to calm me down, (later I found out that Jasper had sent him; he noticed that I was angry enough to strangle his wife), protested – he didn't want me on the same continent as the Volturi.

I paled at this, and Edward put his arms around me. "Shhh, love," he had said. "It'll be all right. The Volturi will never get you – my family…our family would never allow it."

I settled myself into the comfort of his arms.

So instead, the wedding was located at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. (In Forks, not Europe.) Everything in the church – and out – was adorned with blue and crème, to match my dress. Hanging baskets of blue and white flowers were hung outside of the church, and ribbons of the same combination were tied onto the metal posts in grand bows.

Out of the five hundred people that Alice had invited, four hundred and ninety-six attended the wedding. Edward said it was because I was 'so beautiful, wonderful, and…' (His sentence was here cut off short by another round of kisses, whereupon both of us forgot what he had been saying. Needless to say, I did not mind in the least.) Emmett disagreed. Although, he added hastily, at a death glare from Edward, I was pretty; he claimed instead that the large response was due to the fact that 'the ickle humans are scared of what would happen to them if they didn't come."

Charlie came, dressed in a new suit and tie. (Not the one from Harry's funeral; Carlisle helped him to pick this one out. Strange, isn't it, that somebody with three centuries of life behind them could have so much more fashion sense of the current era than my dad, who has so little that, on a scale from one to ten, he's in the negatives.)

Renee, dragging an uncomfortable-looking, tuxedo-wearing Phil behind her, was dressed in a black and white skirt with tiny flower designs and a lacy black top. She'd had the outfit for years, and, sensing her distress at not having a new dress for the occasion, I gave her an abnormally big hug, which she returned gratefully. I could tell that she felt more than a little odd and perhaps a bit guilty wearing black to her only daughter's wedding, but she insisted that the black was for mourning over the loss of her child, not over her daughter's choice in husband.

If she only knew how close she had come to losing her daughter to vampirism for all of eternity.

She had meant it in the sense that her child was becoming an adult, but the Cullens and I looked away from her as she said this; none of us could bear to look into her eyes. Jasper excused himself. I could only imagine the pain he must have felt from Renee, the guilt he must have felt from me for having decided before to take myself away from her.

As he headed to the door, taking hurried but smooth steps, he turned to me. "Remember," he murmured under his breath into my ear, "true love is worth anything…and everything."

He swept past me and exited the room, so swiftly and gracefully that it seemed as if he had not paused to speak to me at all.

Angela arrived a little early, and with her she brought a small package wrapped in blue and crème. That was the giveaway; Alice must have coordinated even the _gift-wrapping_. I reached for it to put it on the gift table (which was covered in boxes and bags, large and small, all in the same colored paper, all with different designs – and these were only from the Cullens!) but she drew her hand back, holding the thin box close to her.

"Sorry, Bella," she said, grinning widely, as she turned and handed the package to Alice, who was literally bouncing up and down with excitement behind her. "You don't get this until after you come back from your honeymoon. Alice will keep it for me and give it to you later."

Alice skipped away with the package, leaving me blinking confusedly at the place she had, until very recently, been standing.

Angela, fortunately, hadn't noticed the speed at which Alice had traveled, for she was staring out the intricately made stain glass window art that ran alongside the large oak doors of the church in see-through, multicolored shapes that, when looking at the entire picture, formed a dove carrying an olive branch in its beak.

I followed her gaze, my eyes scanning the small parking lot.

My eyes fell upon a large group of my fellow classmates, consisting of (but not limited to): Mike, Tyler, Eric, Jessica, Lauren, and Katie. These were soon lost amongst a sea of faces that I realized to be the entire school. (The church was built originally for one hundred-person services; a five hundred-person wedding was going to be tight. Alice assured me, when I voiced my concern, that she had it all planned out, that everything was taken care of. I decided to trust her; after all, what could go wrong when you had a future-seeing vampire on the job?)

Alice had promised me a month ago, upon seeing my reluctance towards a wedding, that a century later, I would be thanking her for making me go through with this.

She was wrong. As soon as I saw Edward while walking down the aisle, holding on to my father's arm for dear life (my legs were shaking terribly; thank goodness even Alice had agreed upon flats), I was willing to praise Alice for all of eternity. Any doubt that had been in my mind was gone.

I had doubted, not my love for Edward, or his for me, but that I was ready to get married.

I knew that I was ready – all too ready. It took everything I had not to rush past the beautiful flowers that had bloomed into every shade of blue, sprinkled with a few crème plants here and there; past my friends from Forks; past Lauren, Jessica, and Mike; past Angela; past my mother and Phil; past the Cullens – into my Edward's arms. I almost did – but not quite.

As I neared the altar where Edward stood, I saw, to my surprise, six very tall, very tan men in suits amidst the rows of witnesses. Paul, Embry, and Quil whistled as I walked by (I was especially careful not to trip; they would never let me live it down if I did. Come to think of it, nor would Emmett.) Sam, Emily sitting beside him, just smiled. Tears came readily to my eyes as I passed Jacob, my Jacob, my safe harbor, who sat on the end of a pew, next to Billy in his wheelchair. Jake grinned, giving me the thumbs-up sign.

The ceremony flew by, though at one point, to my utter horror, I almost burst out into hysterical peals of laughter at Emmett's silent impersonation of the priest in the movie "The Princess Bride." I could see him mouthing dramatically, "Mawwage…ith what bwings uth togethah…today." He caught my eye, grinning and winking.

Edward chuckled beside me, but quickly composed his face at Esme's reproving look. Life would never be dull with the Cullens as my family.

Our honeymoon was amazing as well. The Cullens had found a private island and bought it, much to my dismay. I protested over and over about them spending money on me – it was Carlisle that defended their actions.

"Bella," he said, smiling. "You can't stop us – this is _your_ money now, too. You're family. So technically, Edward could spend any amount on you, and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

I couldn't argue. And truthfully, I didn't want to. A whole two weeks, all to ourselves.

In short, it was bliss.

When we got back to the Sea-Tac airport two wonderful weeks later, the Cullens were waiting in the shadows of the food court. Alice bounded towards us, flinging her arms around me.

"Bella!" she cried, shoving a small package at me. I looked at the tag; it was the one from Angela. "You can open it now!" Before I could rip open the paper, Alice snatched it back from me. "Nuh-uh. No way." She slid her finger under the edge of the paper and tugged. Handing it back to me, she said, "Okay! It's safe for human hands!"

Jasper nudged her into silence.

I pulled a dark blue picture frame from the gift-wrap. Turning it over, I gasped.

"It's beautiful…" I whispered, running my hand carefully over the glass in front.

It was a picture of the wedding – our wedding. Edward's left arm was around my waist, his right hand locked with my left, and his face was bent down to mine for a kiss.

Nobody spoke.

"So you like it?" Alice concluded after a moment of silence. I couldn't speak, so I just nodded.

"You do like it, don't you?" Edward said worriedly. "We can replace it with a picture from these last two weeks. Technically, Angela only gave you the frame – with the intention of a picture from when we kissed during the ceremony, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you really don't like it -"

"No!" I cried, interrupting him, my voice cracking. "Don't you dare replace this – don't you dare do anything to this picture! It's…it's…" I shook my head, blinking tears away rapidly. "I can't…I just can't…" It was just so beautiful…but beautiful didn't even begin to describe it.

Jasper broke in, smiling. "Judging by your wife's emotions, brother…I think she likes it."

Edward let out a sigh of relief.

"More than like it," I added. "It's…perfect." No, more than perfect. It made me so happy that, in our wedding picture, Edward and I were equal. True, he was still beautiful…but not inhumanly so. Humanly beautiful, but more beautiful than any other human on the planet. Than any other being on the planet.

He closed what little space there was between us, taking me in his arms. He pulled back, and looked over his shoulder to where his family stood some distance off.

"Bella, love, we should be going…" he informed me reluctantly.

I took his hand in mine. "Okay."

His eyes traveled back to mine, looking over me, finally resting on our intertwined hands.

I was shaken pleasantly from my stupor.

"Bella, love?" asked Edward softly, hesitantly, bringing me back to the present. He touched my cheek with his free hand. "Are you all right, my Bella?" He stroked three warm, smooth fingers along my jaw line. No, I wasn't all right – I was more than all right. I was perfect. _He _was here. But I wasn't about to say that to him.

"I was just thinking about our wedding." I squeezed his hand that was still holding onto mine.

He let go of my hand, reaching in the same motion to cup my face in his hands possessively. "Mrs. Cullen," he murmured, and kissed the spot just beneath my ear. I shivered in involuntary delight. "Isabella Cullen…" He kissed the hollow beneath my throat. "My Bella…" He kissed my lips forcefully, but at the same time gently. His hands gripped my hair longingly. His tongue lightly trailed over my lower lip.

One of his hands dropped to my waist, pulling me close to him. His other arm encircled my torso as well. He held me tightly, tucking my head into his neck.

Some people may not have deemed this embrace as passionate or loving as a kiss where our mouths moved together for minutes on end.

And maybe that was true, for some couples. Perhaps even for most couples. But the way he held me was so secure, so loving. It was a hold he would never release me from. It wasn't like a tongue-dancing kiss between a girlfriend and boyfriend. Kisses like that were so temporary, so untrustworthy; they didn't really mean much. But the hold Edward had on me – it would last forever.

I reluctantly pulled away from his arms, glancing at the clock. 6:37 p.m.

"So…you said something? Before I spaced?"

Edward blinked. "Oh. Right." He mumbled something under his breath, something that sounded suspiciously like 'beautiful eyes'. I smiled inwardly.

"Chicken would be nice for dinner." He grinned. "It sounds so odd to me…so very odd. Sometimes, when you ask what I want for dinner…" He broke off, chuckling. "Sometimes I want to say 'mountain lions'. Chicken sounds so…feathery."

"I assure you, the chicken will be plucked," I replied, snorting. Stretching my arms up to my hands on his shoulders, I pulled myself up and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose. "I'm going to go to Thriftway, then. Do you want to come with me?" At this point I had taken my baby blue rain jacket off of the hanger outside the kitchen.

"Yes, I'll come with," he said, slipping past me to snatch his black rain jacket from the rack where mine had hung.

As Edward moved to grab the Volvo's car keys from the kitchen counter, I paused in this middle of shrugging on my coat to put my hand on his, stopping him.

"Why don't we walk?" I suggested, my tone innocent.

Edward's eyebrows pulled together in obvious confusion. "But it's raining!" he protested.

"I _know,_" I emphasized, my eyes going wide, trying to get him to understand. It took him a few moments before he got it. His eyes lit up with sudden comprehension.

"Oh!" And he grabbed my hand, pulling me out the door into the rain.

This walk to the grocery store was one of the few times in which Edward and I would truly have 'alone time' since our honeymoon. Now was our chance to get away from Emmett's perverted teasing. (Sometimes it was funny; most of the time, however, it was downright embarrassing.) It was our chance to get away from the all-hearing vampire family. Though they were much loved, sometimes we just needed time for us – for husband and wife.

And if that time came while walking to the store three miles away in the cold Olympic Peninsula Washington rain – so be it.

We were crossing Forks Avenue, hand in hand, when I noticed a high-pitched screeching sound behind us, getting louder and louder with every passing moment.

My head whipped around, and it was déjà vu. Bright headlights took over my vision, just like with Tyler's van over two years ago. Right before the impact, Edward's horror-stricken eyes found mine, and he threw his body sideways, so that he was in between the vehicle and me.

But his body was no longer stronger than granite. Though he would take the brunt of the blow, it wouldn't be enough to save either of us.

He knew this.

I felt Edward's arms clutching at me, pulling me close to him, holding onto me for dear love. His lips moved against my hair. I caught only a single phrase from the torrent of prayer his mouth let forth.

"Oh, please God!"

I was thinking the same thing.

A sudden sharp pain stabbed throughout me, and our intertwined bodies were flung through the air by a prodigious force.

The last thing I saw as we fell towards the wet pavement was Edward's hand clasped around mine, knuckles white in pain. His green eyes bore deep into my brown ones, into my very soul, for a fraction of a second, and then I hit the ground with a jolt, Edward's body lying limp, unmoving, on top of mine. My eyes closed for what would be the last time.

**(A POV) **

_Darkness… screeching… bright headlights… bus… Edward… Bella… blood… pain_ _…shouting… screaming… EDWARD. _

I snapped out of my vision, swaying a moment before shooting out of the garage, running faster than I ever had before, yelling as I sped into the forest, _"Everybody get over here! Edward! Bella! Bus…dead!"_

I did not stop to wait, but I heard the sounds of my family following me through the dense forest.

I had seen my brother – _my brother _– and my sister-in-law die.

Dead.

They were dead.

And I could have stopped it.I should have seen it – _why_ didn't I see it?

_Why am I always too late? _

It seemed only moments later that I reached Forks Ave. The smell of blood – sweet, intoxicating blood – was strong, almost overpowering. A small, squat bus, like the buses from the high school, was pulled onto the curb.

There was frantic yelling from inside the bus. As I neared the vehicle, I could see the driver stumbling out the door. I scanned for passengers; there were none. My eyes fell on the ground. Blood was everywhere. _Everywhere_. The monster inside of me was begging me to let it out – _just one drop, just…just one…one life…one…now…NOW!_

I walked solemnly, unseeingly, toward the scent of the blood. I stopped, my eyes zeroing in on the scene before me. I hadn't even noticed that they had been out of focus. Edward and Bella lay unmoving, their rain-soaked sides pressed against the pavement, their arms around each other in a final and eternal embrace.

I couldn't move – couldn't make myself back away in horror and pain, couldn't make myself rush forward and fall to their sides. I was frozen in shock.

I was abruptly aware of Jasper's presence behind me. I turned, just barely, and he lurched forward, his eyes wild. _Black._

I unfroze, my arm darting to snatch at his shoulder. But I was too slow – even moving faster than any car could ever go, I was too slow.

But Jasper didn't do what I expected him to do. He didn't attack the body of his beloved sibling, or that of his beloved friend.

Instead, he fell down next to their still forms. Holding Edward's ashen face in his hands, he stared into the nothingness of the forest, too overcome for words.

They were dead. They were gone.

_And they weren't coming back._

The day of Edward and Bella's funeral came. Blue and white flowers adorned the pews of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, just like Bella's wedding.

But these flowers did not produce the air of rejoicing that they had that day. They were, instead, a reminder of what could have been – the joy and happiness, the love and the life that could have been.

If only I'd seen what was coming.

I watched from the edge of the trees as their ashes were scattered over the meadow. I watched as people spoke their parts about the ones we lost. But I wasn't really listening. I was thinking of how the speakers are supposed to know the ones they're speaking about better than anyone else. I was thinking of how nobody at the funeral that day really _knew _Edward and Bella. Nobody knew their biggest secret.

Only the vampire family present knew what really happened after Bella moved to Forks.

Truly, I don't think any of us here on Earth – vampire and human alike – have the mind capacity to fully understand how deep their connection was, how far their love was rooted beyond their hearts – into their very souls.

Because it was depthless; it was endless.

I spoke to Carlisle that day, at the funeral – the first time I had spoken since the actual impact – and part of the conversation really hit me.

"Alice," Carlisle had begun.

I turned to him with dull eyes and a dull heart.

"Why are you so depressed?" he questioned, his own voice full of sorrow.

"Because they're gone – they're gone!" I cried. "And…and…oh, Carlisle, I could have stopped it! I could have! …could have!" I broke down crying, for the second time in my existence, tears that would never flow. I buried my face in my hands, and then curled up into a ball, my knees drawn close to my chest. The ground beneath me was wet, but I didn't care. Because I could have prevented all of this…

"Yes, they are gone." He signed heavily.

My sobbing intensified at this lack of comfort.

"But, Alice," he continued. "Do you really have to mourn? Surely you see the good in this?"

I stared at him numbly.

"Good?" I croaked. "There is no good, Carlisle! They're DEAD!"

"What did they want, Alice?" he challenged me lightly. "What did they want, more than anything else in the world?"

I couldn't think, couldn't reason.

"They sure as hell didn't want to die!" I screamed at him, my father figure, who stood in front of me with mournful eyes. "What the hell, Carlisle? You can't mean that they wanted to die! They didn't! They wanted life! And…and…family!"

Carlisle nodded.

"But, Alice," he said, for the second time. "They also wanted to be able to love each other. They wanted to be together"

I stared at him, shock written all over my face.

"So you're saying," I said, fighting to keep my voice even, "that they got what they deserved, that they really wanted to DIE so that they could be together?"

Carlisle had opened his mouth to interrupt me, but when I said this, his mouth opened and closed, and his face twisted in pain.

"Alice…I…no, no…" He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to rid himself of everything pressing in on him. He took a deep breath, and his face returned to normal; there was however, a hint of strain in his jaw. I mentally beat myself – this was _Carlisle_. He _loved _Edward and Bella. Placing blame on him wasn't going to help. "What I mean to say is that…in everything, there is some good. In every _situation, _that is. Although they died, Alice, did you see their faces? What did they look like, Alice? What did you see?"

"They looked dead," I replied, my voice dull, lifeless. Just like my brother. Just like my friend.

"Look beyond that, Alice. Their faces – they were peaceful. Didn't you see how they died?"

I nodded my head slowly, and a small smile creeped to my lips. As I realized this, I banished it quickly. "They died in each others arms, Carlisle. So? So maybe they look peacefully happy. So what?"

"So now they have what they wanted, Alice. They have never looked so at rest in their lives. They have never looked so content."

"So now," I began, and my voice gained confidence as I spoke, "they can be together…forever. Just like they've always dreamed."

Carlisle smiled, and tilted his head up toward the sky. I followed suit. The clouds were covering most of its wide expanse, considering the fact that we were in Washington, but a small patch of blue could be seen directly above the center of the meadow. The edge of the sun peaked out from behind the dark gray cumulus clouds, casting brilliant gold rays upon the dewy grass.

A bird flitted over the meadow, chirping, twirling, diving, soaring. It flew up towards the sky, until it was lost in the dark clouds. Not knowing why, I continued to look for it. A minute passed, and at last I saw the small bird fly through the circular opening in the gold-tinted clouds, and disappear.

"Every cloud has a silver lining," Carlisle whispered softly. "This cloud, however, has a gold one."

I nodded; I was unable to speak. For it was so true – it was all they wanted. At one time, they wanted to be together, a vampire and a human. To be two vampires, for the rest of forever. To be two humans, until they died.

Well, they did.

And now, as morbid as it seems, they could truly be together – with no worries about vampires seeking revenge, or the Volturi, come to kill them, or werewolves, determined to find some way around the treaty.

They were truly at peace.

**(G POV) **

_Misty white fog, everywhere. Surrounding everything. Fluffy, cottony clouds beneath my feet. The constant sounds, far off in the distance, of reunion, of elation, of eternal bliss._

_A girl, all alone in the fog. Beautiful feathered wings extending from her back. White material, an unearthly material, flows down from her shoulders to her bare feet. The girl looks around nervously, hopefully, her heart-shaped face a peculiar mix of relief and worry._

_She has long, silky brown hair, cascading in waves to the small of her back. She reaches behind her to finger the feathers of her soft white wings. She smiles sadly, and her eyes reflect unfathomable pain._

_Situations like this have arisen before; a person, come to this place, looking about themselves eagerly, warily, for a loved one. Sometimes, they never find them. Because the one they look for isn't there, and won't be for a long time. Or, they never will be._

_But this girl's situation is different. She isn't looking for a normal man, a normal lover._

_She is looking for someone who was once a vampire. A killer, a murderer._

_Why would a murderer be accepted into heaven? The girl is likely thinking this. A long time passes._

_The girl's thoughts are written clearly on her face now, but she says them aloud anyway. _

_"Oh, God, don't turn him away from here!" she cries out to me, tears pooling in her chocolate brown eyes. "No! No! He fought the monster inside! For nearly a century, God! PLEASE!" she screams, tears streaming in rivulets down her pale cheeks. She collapses onto her hands and knees, and it is difficult to make her out; the fog is so thick around her shaking form. It is difficult for me to see her pain, to hear her voice shrieking with it, especially here, in a place that is supposed to be paradise._

_Her wings droop over her back, unwanted, useless._

_"Please," she finally whispers, blinking away her tears. "If he can't come here, Lord, send me to hell, if that is where he is. Because if he is not with me, then I am worse off here than in any hell I can imagine."_

_It is difficult to tell whether it is her wings that weigh her down, causing her to crumple into a heap, or whether it is her heavy heart._

_She lays like this, a broken girl, deep inside her soul, sobbing, and every once in a while going through strange convulsions._

_I look at her, an odd feeling of pity coursing through me. I sit far above the girl, and normally, I let the new ones be, until they get used to this. But the girl is suffering. Here. Now._

_Anyhow, some rules are created with exceptions (even ones made by me), and this is one of them._

_I whisper in a voice audible only to her, "He is coming…"_

_I know she hears me, because her convulsions stop abruptly; she hiccups her self into silence._

_She does not see the form that is coming out of the dense fog behind her. She stares, wide-eyed, straight ahead, eyes flickering back and forth, scanning the area for her once-vampire lover._

_She gives a start as a deep, melodic, velvety voice sounds behind her._

_"Bella?" The voice sounds relieved, comforted, and as the speaker's mouth is opening and closing repeatedly, he is at a complete loss for words._

_She slowly turns around, hardly daring to believe her ears. When she sees him, wings protruding from his muscular body, bronze hair slightly wet (most likely due to our close proximity to clouds) she nearly faints from happiness._

_She lets out a strangled gasp of pleasure. She gets up hastily, and they rush into each other's arms. _

_They hold each other tightly for a long moment, and I avert my eyes at their intimate touch. (It does not feel right to intrude on such a moment; it is theirs, and theirs alone.) _

_After all their pain, all their hardship, everything that they went through, it is an immense relief to know that they love each other with such a deep passion._

_I know how hard it was on them, their relationship. I was there. I am always there. I watched it all, looking after them. I helped them through tough times, and I kept them alive – just a little longer. _

_I couldn't have controlled their lives for them. Life is made up of choices. Without choices, there _is _no life. But I could help them through their lives, guide them towards the right decisions. I can't just give everything to them, not when I let them make their own choices, but I can help them handle the choices they make. _

_Although this moment is for them, the reunited couple, I truly want to see their joy, their relief, their happiness at being together again. I turn my gaze back on them. They kiss, and as they break apart, their eyes lock, both filled with tears._

_Even I can barely hear it when the boy whispers, just before he pulls her in for another kiss, "Bella…my Bella…I always knew you were an angel."_

_The girl giggles, and I smile in satisfaction._

_Because they are here, the two lovers that have been through so much. _

_Together. Forever. _

_For the rest of eternity._

**A/N – FIN! Now, before you judge me too harshly, remember, dear reviewers, that this story came from a dream. I had to incorporate everything that I remembered from the dream in the story, or else it wouldn't sound right to me. **

**I must warn you: If you read to the end of this thing and hate it, great! It's your opinion if you think this is crap! Please, please, PLEASE don't yell at me. Although I like reviews, (as I've said before, they are my energy drinks), please refrain from telling a person that you hate something of theirs. It does not make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. **

**Now, guess who "G POV" is!!! First one to guess correctly gets…um…a SEMI-COLON! **

**Originally, maybe halfway through the story, I had planned to do a sequel. Bleck. Too cheesy. No sequel for me! However, I will shortly begin to write my own story – it might even be fairly long. It has nothing to do with any books or movies or llamas, but when I do write it, I will post it on DeviantArt. My account there is CaptainKoala-7. Don't ask. This author's note is really long. Hm…Oh, well! A cube of applause to all you lufferly reviewers! Love, Jojo **

**P.S. The semi-colon wants you to poke the perty purple go button! You cannot resist the power of the semi -colon! ; **


	7. Heaven

Last Chapter:

"_Bella…my Bella…I always knew you were an angel."_

_The girl giggles, and I smile in satisfaction._

_Because they are here, the two lovers that have been through so much. _

_Together. Forever. _

_For the rest of eternity._

Epilogue:

**B POV **

Heaven. It's amazing. It's indescribable. It's like nothing I've ever known, nothing I could ever have imagined.

Edward and I are in a pond of stars, splashing in its waterless depths. I fall into his arms, sighing happily. It is so perfect here. For the first few moments I was here – I do not know how long it was; time doesn't seem to exist, somehow – I remember the pain, the shock, the horror of arriving…_without Edward_. I wanted to die, before I realized I was. The pain of the moment, the utter pain and sense of loss.

The idea that I would live, or remain dead, for eternity _without him _was the most unbearable feeling I could ever imagine. And I had screamed, screamed to God, because I knew He was listening. Knew that He could fix this, end my pain.

And then he came. Edward. With angel's wings flowing gracefully from his chiseled back, his crooked grin spread wide on his face. I was so grateful at that moment. Later, I asked Edward what had happened. He said that I died before him, that he only took longer than me because he was more durable. I was so relieved when he said that; because for those first few moments, I thought that he, too had died. And he had.

I thought that he, my angel, had gone to hell.

But now we are content, and as I lay in his arms, my love's arms, I know that nothing could be better. We spend much of our time watching the Earth – an interesting place, given the view. I am disgruntled at the amount of hatred flowing off of the planet like vibes – couldn't the place that God made be a little bit happier? And then Edward redirects my gaze somewhere else. He points to Phoenix, Arizona, where my mother Renee lives with Phil. For a while she was distressed and miserable because of my death, but she has moved on quite nicely. Phil takes care of her, and I am glad for that.

Every so often, though, she forgets her car keys, or what day her hair appointment is, and then the strangest thing happens. She hears something, something that could be interpreted as wind if you don't believe. She dismisses it, but finds that she suddenly remembers where she put her car keys – under a cushion in the couch – or that the date of her next hair job is on Wednesday. I am not supposed to interfere, strictly speaking, but Edward understands. And so does He.

In Forks, Charlie has been recuperating. He passes his days over at the Black household, where Billy and Jacob take care of him. Jake is a full-grown werewolf now; he looks like he's twenty-seven. It saddens me to see my friend all grown up, older than I'll ever be, and know that I'll never see him again – at least, not for a very long time. A long _Earthly _time, anyway. There's a blank wall in the Black's house that is decorated with one thing: a picture of me. When I first saw it, I almost broke out in waterless tears. What hurts the most is to see Charlie coming home from work, pass by that wall…and shut his eyes, as if in excruciating pain. He brushes a finger over my face, blushing deeply in the picture.

What moves me is what picture it is: It's not just me in that picture. It's me and Edward. That Charlie would miss him, commemorate him on the Black's wall… it means a lot to me.

And when Jake sees it…hot tears fill his eyes, but the bitter look has gone. It is as if he has forgiven Edward for taking me, as if Edward had not been his enemy. He looks at the Edward half of the photo with what you could call respect. He looks at me with love. It breaks my heart that he should feel so much pain.

But a little while ago, I was watching Angela's house – just to make sure Ben didn't burn her place down with his expert cooking skills. And then Edward gestured over to La Push. I looked, and couldn't look away, couldn't stop the immediate grin that formed on my face.

Jacob. Jacob with someone else. Jacob smiling. Jacob laughing. Jacob with a _girl_.

He had imprinted, and was obviously madly in love with her. She was madly in love right on back. I was glad to know that he had finally found someone that he could actually realistically be with, not a girl who was dating his mortal, mythical enemy.

The most painful thing for me, however, is looking down the long, three mile driveway, at the empty white mansion hidden in the trees. The furniture is covered over in dusty white sheets, and all the life – er, un-deadness – is gone from the house. The last time the Cullens had been there was the day of Edward's and my funeral.

It was beautiful, to say the least. Our headstones – even now I have trouble getting the word out – our headstones were directly next to each other. Everyone came, everyone was crying. The Cullens stood alone in the background, silently, without tears. And yet, their faces betrayed so much unspoken pain that it was hard to believe any of the others in attendance even had feelings. Carlisle held Esme, gently stroking her caramel hair out of her tortured face. His own face was twisted into an expression of pain that compromised hers. Emmett had his head buried in Rosalie's hair. He kept murmuring something like, "Poor little human…humans…poor humans..." Rosalie's face remained impassive – almost. It was her eyes that betrayed her emotions, and her hand involuntarily reaching up to wipe non-existent tears from her beautiful golden eyes. Jasper and Alice were in the corner, and Jasper had Alice pulled close to him on his lap, her small head tucked under his chin. It was a frightening sight – Alice wore a simple pair of black pants and black sweater, no jewelry or designer clothing on her. She might have done this because she was distracted, and had no time to pick out a set of fancy clothing. Yet, Edward says it is something more. He thinks it was done as a tribute to me – me and my non-designerness.

I was touched, strangely. But I felt a momentary sense of panic. I didn't want Alice, or any of the Cullens, to stop being themselves. So, quite naturally, I stepped in. Edward said it wasn't right, that I didn't need to involve myself any more in the well-being of our family – especially in a 'simple' matter such as this. But I couldn't bring myself to look away from Alice's deadened stare. By utter coincidence, Alice had a dream the night of the funeral. Yes, a dream. A vision at night while she was lying in bed, albeit not sleeping.

In this dream/vision, she walks along into her bedroom. A note is on the bedside table. "Alice. Please. Burn those clothes you wore today. You look, not awful, exactly, but not like yourself. I, personally, hate designer for me…but love it for you. Please, Alice, know that Edward and I love you very much. Wishing to see you, Bella."

When Edward found out about this, he was very angry. I told him heatedly that I loved his family, and would do anything to keep them happy. His expression softened, and he pulled me into his arms.

Which is where I am now. I found the Cullens a little while ago – Alice and Jasper are in France, and I watch Alice happily buying tons of designer clothing – it seems she took my message to heart. Esme and Carlisle are visiting Tanya's coven in Denali, and Rose and Emmett are in New York – Rosalie having fun laughing at all the models, Emmett having fun watching Rosalie having fun laughing at all the models.

None of my family has changed a bit, but oddly, they've changed so much. Emmett…there's something missing in his grin at some points, and Rosalie gets a soft expression on her face when Edward or I am mentioned. Esme and Carlisle reach for each other automatically during silences, and Alice's face grows pathetically sad. Jasper takes in the emotions of his family, and adds in incredible sadness of his own.

But they move on. They live, sort of, and they keep being themselves. I'm just happy that they haven't forgotten us. And we haven't forgotten them. We never will. I smile at Edward, and he smiles back.

My life is over, my eternity just started.

My happiness is complete.

**A/N: Someone on Deviantart suggested it – by the way, my account there is Captainkoala-7 (nerdy, I know) – and therefore, this epilogue/chapter thing is dedicated to HotShotSportyGirl44. **

**Please note that I am beginning to write another story, Remember for Eternity, as well as working on my current one, All That Matters.**

**All That Matters is about Bella's father and mother dying of natural causes when she is seventeen. She is an extremely independent girl, but finds that everyone needs someone. When she meets a certain doctor at the Kindred Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, she is offered a house with him and his family. It is his job, and he swears he will, to make his house a home for her. Of course, it isn't so easy when his household is filled with vampires… I actually really enjoy both reading and writing this story, and I hope you do the same.**

**Remember for Eternity is a story I've only just begun. This is set before Twilight, and takes place instead of. When Bella, age fifteen, goes to work with her mother to help her sort some files, she meets a man who terrifies her to no end. Unwilling to tell Renee, firmly sent against involving the police, Bella decides to keep it to herself. A week later, a package arrives on her doorstep. She disregards it at first, but then works up the nerve to open it. Its contents are terrifying: A note from who she assumes is the same man, along with a single black rose. She ignores it. Three days later: another note, another rose. She is sworn into silence – if she wants Renee to live. Bella has a stalker, and her only hope to keep her mother alive is to go head on and meet him.**

**Please review, guys. Tell me what you think of this story and this chapter, and then, if you would, contribute ideas to Remember for Eternity or All That Matters. I love you all tons! **


	8. Teaching the Heart to Love

**Teaching the Soul, Touching the Heart**

**A/N: Set six months after Edward and Bella's funeral. Happy reading!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Me: Skips along merrily, reciting the back page of Twilight**

**Random Passerby: Isn't that the back page of Twilight?**

**Me: Yes, yes it is! Keeps reciting**

**Random Passerby: Hey, kid, the back page of Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, and you have no right to take away what rightfully belongs to her.**

**Me: Oh. I'm sorry. And third, I was unconditionally and ir-**

**Random Passerby: glares**

**Me: -revocably in love with him. There, I'm done. Happy? **

**Random Passerby: glares  
Me: sigh Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse do not belong to me, but to Stephenie Meyer, who is a genius, unlike me. No amount of reciting or wishing will ever allow me access to the ownership of aforementioned novels or of characters or related insignia. There. Happy?**

**Random Passerby: No. Goodbye.**

**Me: Eh!**

_Bella_. I can still hardly believe that she's gone. It's so impossible for my mind to encompass this. Bella was one of the only things that was real for me, substantial. If everything else in the world was not real, she was. If everyone else betrayed me, she would not. But she did, even though it doesn't seem like it.

She betrayed me when she left me for _him_. I shake the thought from my head; I promised myself the day of her funeral, hers and Edward's, that I would try my best to respect him. I know he loved her, with all his un-dead heart and soul, so I should be okay with that. She was my best friend; I'm obligated to protect her in every way. And maybe that's why I despise him so much. Edward. Because he took care of her when I didn't. Because she chose to love him even though I tried my hardest for her. But he loved her, and that was what mattered: that she was happy. And, every day, when I saw the smile in her face and the joy in her eyes, I knew she was.

I'm walking along First Beach, a mile away from my house where I live with Billy, my father, and now Charlie, Bella's dad. He was a little excessively distraught after she died, and so Billy offered at her funeral for him to come live with us. It's a good thing, really. I can cook much better than Charlie, which isn't saying much. When I cook, we have Ragu for dinner. (Billy always claims it's our 'super-secret-family recipe, passed down for generations', or something like that. Whenever he says this, I scoff bitterly. The only thing that's been passed down for generations is this hereditary mutation that causes the bearer to morph into a gigantic, shaggy, smelly dog. Thanks a lot, ancestors. I appreciate it.)

It's cloudy today, as usual, and the rain just reminds me of her. Everything does. The rain makes me want to cry again, like I did at the funeral. I bawled my eyes out, unable to contain myself. I felt really…pathetic when I looked over at the Cullens (or what was left of them) and saw them shed not a single tear. At first, I thought that they were cold, heartless monsters – Bella considered them family, and they weren't mourning! But they _were_ mourning, as I soon discovered. They just showed it in a more…subtle way than I did. And, somehow, it was so much more intimate.

Their eyes were filled with a timeless pain, and I had to wrench my gaze away from them. It hurt too much, the knowledge that somebody loved her more than I did. 

The rain soaks my hair and cut-off jeans, but I pay no heed. I'd like to drown. I'd like to throw myself into the ocean and let the waves wash me away, and take my pain away with it. I consider just that; I won't be much loss to the pack. We have a lot now, and more soon. They're reaching that awkward age of mid-teens, where all their limbs are too long for their already-tall bodies, and their muscles are thin and weak. They'll join us soon. Obviously, they don't need me.

'_But somebody does.'_

'What the?...' I think, spinning around on my too-big feet, stumbling and almost falling in the process. I dismiss the words spoken as if by the wind as just the wind. The weird thing, the spooky thing, is that the words spoken sound way too much like Bella for my liking.

As I turn back around, continuing on my invisible path along the beach back up the actual trail, I see something by the ocean. I blink, and stop dead in my tracks. My vision hadn't been tricking me, I realize, though most creatures aren't on this part of the beach – the sand is slanted so that when the tide comes in, and you're near the water, it's deep. So I am surprised to see any living creature out here.

I am even more surprised to see that the 'creature' is a young woman. Immediately, I am drawn to her, and I can't understand why. I just know that…that she is beautiful and perfect and wonderful. I thank my blessed werewolf eyesight, because it helps me to see her so much better than I would be able to if I were still human. She is a few inches about five feet, and I can't help but think how perfectly her head would tuck under my chin. Her hair is a deep auburn that borders on red, and it flows in waves about her shoulders. She is wearing tight-fitting jeans that hug her curves, and a thick cotton shirt of an off-white material adorns her torso. It is cut with an open loop in the front, exposing her neck and a good portion of her upper chest, but not low enough to be considered indecent except for in the strictest of schools. Her collar bones are prominent, and the way they hold the fabric of her shirt slightly up is oddly appealing. I observe all this in seconds, before I see something else. 

She holds a thick book in her small, delicate hands, and has her nose almost pressed up against it. I wonder, at first, how she can see where she is going, what with her eyesight being completely obscured by the thin pages of the novel. And then I realize – she _can't_. 

She is walking straight ahead, with a preciseness that I admire. Unfortunately, she is walking straight into the ocean. I start to call out to her, but quickly realize that she can't hear me over the roar of the tide. I jog towards her, frightened for her safety. Under normal circumstances, I would probably roll my eyes at the absurdity of it all – she literally has her nose buried in a book, and so out of reality that she doesn't notice the water furiously lapping around her ankles. Her jeans are growing more and more soaked. I sigh in frustration; she should have noticed by now! Must be a damn good book…

She is past ankle deep in the water now, and I try to run faster. God, how stupid can this girl get? I wince mentally; it is wrong to even think that. It hurts, thinking ill about her. And how much more it would hurt if she was hurt because I couldn't help her! 

I nearly die as I see her suddenly disappear from my line of vision. Gasping as I run, for her, not for me, I scan the waters frantically. She's there, her body floating lightly on the shallow waves, carrying her farther and farther into the ocean with every passing second. I see her book lying on the beach a few feet out from the water, and a rock twisted from its original resting place. I conclude, logically, that this is what she must have tripped over. I am horrified. A fall into the Pacific Ocean would not be a pleasant one. 

But right now that doesn't matter to me. The _cause _doesn't matter; what does is getting her out of that ocean alive. My feet steadily pound away at the sand. I am going as fast as I can go, and my clumsy awkwardness has left me. This is too important to trip during. This is the girl I love.

And I haven't even met her yet.

_And you won't, _I remind myself, gritting my teeth, _if you don't hurry your sorry ass up and rescue her! _So I run. Reaching the ocean, I slosh through as fast as I can possibly go, salt water splattering my bare chest and face. The cold is chilling, but I am used to it. As soon as the water touches my skin, it is gone. I smirk. It's one of the few advantages of being a werewolf. When I'm hungry and the stove's broken, I can cook an egg on my chest, no sweat.

I am waist deep in the murky waters of the Pacific by the time I reach her. I want to make sure she is okay, to pull her from her unconsciousness now, but I know I need to wait until I get to shore. Lifting her up, I drape her across my broad shoulders and head faster, if possible, back towards short. The nonexistent weight of her fragile body frighten me. I worry that she is gravely hurt; I have heard that you weigh less when you die. Something about loosened muscles or something. I am on shore again, and I continue running. Faster than I would ever have thought possible. 

Her breathing is short and uneven, coming in strangled gasps. I grimace – I didn't pay much attention during our CPR unit at the reservation school, but I learned one thing: If you're not sure you know it, don't even try. You'll end up hurting the subject more. And hurting this girl is the last thing I want to do. As her heartbeat slows, I make up my mind. I'm going to do everything I can to save this girl, because I know that if she dies, a part of me dies, too. My soul. My heart. My reason for living. 

I place her on the wet sand carefully, gently brushing strands of soaking wet hair from her soft, pale face. 

I hesitate momentarily, wanting so badly to merely crouch down in the sand next to her, to hold her face in my hands and comfort her, unconscious as she is. I want to never let anything touch her or hurt her again. I can't do this, however, because she is freezing. Every second spent out here is costing. I check to make sure she is still breathing. My gaze trails to her chest, which continues in its hectic wheezing pattern. Her lips are slightly parted, as if drawing her last breath, like girls do in the movies before falling back on their bedcovers. Dead. I shudder at the thought, and I am surprised as I keep shaking; I take a deep breath to calm myself. She isn't going to die.

My eyes harden. I won't let her. I jog several feet away and change. The morph isn't as painful or terrifying as the first time; this time, I know what is happening to me. But there is that split second of horror, that moment when I am terrified that by letting go, I am letting go of humanity. I fear, in that brief instance, that I will lose myself completely to the wolf spirit inside of me.

The change is a bittersweet one. It always is. I bend down my shaggy head and take the back of her shirt carefully in my teeth, hoping to God that I don't scratch her frail human self. My teeth rip halfway through the shirt, and, ashamed, I turn my head and carefully place her on my back. I snag my discarded jeans, stare at her for a long moment, and then break into a run.

I hear Sam's voice in my head, and I begin the fight to keep his thoughts from welding into my own.

_Jacob. You are mourning her again. _At first, I am confused. Mourning? Mourning who? My love, my life, my soul…she isn't dead. I am saving her from that very fate. At this, Sam's thoughts grow worried.

_Bella. _I nearly collapse, faltering in my previously easy lope across the beach, now entering the forest. _Bella_, I hear, and they are my own thoughts now. I shake my head, ridding myself of her name. Yes. I had loved her. I do love her, but she belongs to the bl- no. She belongs to Edward, who died a human. They both did. Bella wasn't for me. I think of the girl on my back. She is. 

I quicken my pace, desperate to keep her safe. _Sam, _I growl in my head.

_Yes, Jacob_? He is wondering who the girl is, trying not to hope – for my sake – for the best. 

_She was drowning. I've imprinted. On her. Sam, I'm scared that she's dying. What if she's dying. Please, Sam, get help, _I plead. _Get the pack and come to Billy's. _ I can tell that he is running now, too. I see the forest in his mind, and I hear him call to Embry and Quil and the rest of the boys, the rest of my family. His mind is everywhere at once.

_We will bring blankets. I will bring Emily. She makes the best chicken noodle soup. Much better than Campbell's. _He intends for me to smile, but I can't. Not when she's hurt. Not when she's in danger.

Sam's thoughts again disturb me from my worries. _Jacob. My brother. She will be fine. The pack is with you. She will be okay. _

_Thanks_. The word is abrupt and harsh, and I regret it immediately.

_No, _thinks Sam forcefully. _Don't apologize. I understand. _A picture of Emily, scarred and weak and bloody, flashes in his mind. Then his thoughts disappear. He has reached my house.

_Thirty seconds, _I think, even though Sam has left the pack mind, even though it is just me now. I break through the concealment of the dense forest, and Embry and Quil (both in their human forms) run out to greet me. Embry reaches up to take her from my back, and I instinctively tense up and growl. His eyes grow wide, and he jumps away, hands in the air. Mollified by his surprise, I crouch down and allow him and Quil to lift her off.

I feel different now that I have lost contact with her. I feel as if a part of me ahs been wrenched away. Quickly, I phase back, pulling my jeans on in almost the same motion. I jog the few steps up to where Embry carries her, and he passes her limp form over to me. "Here, Jake," he says as I wrapped my arms around her body. I rush back to the house. Sam opens the door for me, and I push past him, not looking at him for acknowledgement of his own. Not caring. 

"Oh, my!" comes Emily's gasp from the kitchen. I set the girl down on the couch. Emily rushes in to help me arrange the blankets, tucking in corners. I do this delicately, gently; I don't want her to be cold. I put a hand to her forehead, checking for temperature. Emily makes an exasperated sound from behind me. "Really, Jacob," she admonishes. "You wouldn't be able to tell if she had a temperature, considering yours is…what, 109 now?" I grimace. True, very true. "Move, Jacob," she prods.

"Fine." I reluctantly comply. I move, and it rips my heart out. Emily kneels beside the ratty couch and strokes back the hair from the girl's face. 

"Hello," says Emily quietly, her voice soft and comforting. "I'm Emily. Please wake up soon. After we're sure you're okay and comfortable, you can get some well- deserved rest." Emily sits back on her heels, expecting a response, a movement, a sign of the girl's life other than the sporadic heaves of her chest. Emily's brow furrows. "Oh, dear," she murmurs. A gentle, careful hand rests itself on her forehead. 

I squirm. "What, Emily?" I whisper. "What can I do to help her?" Everyone turns to stare at me; the pack in sympathy and pain, Emily in confusion.

"Jacob," she starts, "you don't even know this girl, why do you think you need to help her?" Her words, however innocent, hurt me. I recoil, as if poked with a hot poker.

"Because." I draw in a shaky breath. "I need her. I need to be with her, to know her, to look out for her. To be her…her everything. Because she is mine." Normally, the guys would laugh. They would collapse on each other in fits of messed up guffaws and laugh their guts out. But this time, they don't. This time, they solemnly look on, their eyes offering prayers and support and care. They understand. They've all felt and experienced the imprint, even if it hasn't happened to them. 

It takes a moment, but Emily's eyes suddenly widen. "Oh," she whispers. "_Oh." _

I panic. "What's wrong, Emily? What's wrong?" I take a step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. Sam knocks my hand away from her, the apology already in his eyes. I shove my hand in my pocket. I know he is right; when I'm acting like this, worried as I am, I can't be near someone who I could hurt. 

"Nothing's wrong, other than the obvious." She smiles briefly at me, but it contains more worry than anything else. I look carefully at the girl, assessing her. Seeing if anything is freakishly messed up. _Her head's attached, her limbs bending the right way…_

Then there is silence as I realize she has stopped breathing altogether. 

"Jacob," Emily says quietly, not even turning to look at me. "She may need CPR." My fists clench…she is in danger, then. Of dying. "Do you want me to?..." My mind isn't really working. 

After a few seconds, I say, "Yes. Yes, Emily. Please." She places a comforting hand on my shoulder. I ignore it. I am unwilling to accept comfort. It's not that I don't need it. I don't deserve it. I am shaken from my thoughts as Emily rolls the girl into a strange position: one leg curled up, slightly tilted to her side. Emily begins CPR, lowering her mouth to the girl's. Two strong breaths, out. Nothing. Hands in an odd fist, against the center of the chest. _Push, push, push, push_… I hold my breath. This must work. It has to work. I need it to work. I need her to live.

_Push, push, push_. Emily stops, bends down. Two strong breaths out. _One, two. _No difference. She returns to pushing. _Push, push. _I watch anxiously, my mind in anguish. Finally, after what seems like forever, Emily sits back, sighing.

My eyes shift over to the girl, as if by instinct, hopeful. But there is nothing – no movement, no breathing. Just a faint heartbeat.

I gasp out in pain – _no, no, no! Not her! Not when I could be happy, finally. _I fall to my knees beside her, taking her beautiful face in my large, warm hands. "No," I whisper, stroking the damp hair out of her face. "Please, no." No response; I feel so hurt, so angry, so terribly sad. It's awful. I think again, briefly, of the Cullens, and how they acted at Bella's funeral. How I acted. I realize now that I didn't love her – not that way, not like they did. Not enough. But this girl…I love her. I close my eyes shut, blinking away the tears that have brimmed. 

This was true pain.

I stroke her hair, gently touch her shoulder, smooth out her shirt. I pull the pillow so that it is more under her head, and tug the blankets to that they cover her almost completely.

There is silence behind me. Silence from my pack, my family. I thank them in my head. I need this moment to be with her. I gaze at her face, her lightly tanned complexion contrasting the pale walls around her. Her mouth is slightly open, her full strawberry lips chapped with the salt of the ocean. Her nose curves slightly upward, and her cheekbones are angular and soft at the same time. Her skin is smooth, her eyebrows delicate. Her lashes are a deep black. She wears the tiniest frown on her face, as if unhappy with the way things turned out.

_I would be, too, _I think_, if I had drowned in the ocean while reading a book. _Place the palm of my hand against her neck, where the blood of her veins pumps gently, rhythmically. Too slow. Unintentionally, my hand increases its pressure on her throat. I know it's wrong, and Sam steps forward to stop me, but I release the pressure before he reaches me. As soon as my hand is no longer in contact with her neck, a great, gasping, drawn out breath is taken. 

The girl is straining for air, grasping frantically for the oxygen she has not breathed for several minutes now. She coughs up salt water, even some seaweed, and Emily hastens to gather up dry towels. A wave of joy rushes throughout me, but it is quickly stayed as I realize that I need to help. I take a towel from Emily, gently tucking it under her chin. "It's all right," I murmur as her previously sporadic breathing evens out. "You're safe now, it's all right. Everything is all right." I keep up my mantra; the sound of my voice seems to sooth her. 

After what seems like forever, the girl is finished sicking up. I take the previously white towel and use the dry part to wipe her mouth. I wipe my own hands on this, then take a clean towel from Emily to dry her face. I throw the towel to the floor, turning back to the girl.

She stares at me, eyes wide, and sweat caused her auburn hair to stick to her forehead. I don't know what I expect her to say. "Thank you", perhaps, or "where am I?" But I certainly didn't expect what she _does _say.

"I'm sorry," she says, and her eyes fill with tears. I don't respond; I can't. Her voice has enthralled me. It is musical, soft, silvery. It makes me feel like summer and rainbows and flowers and fairies. I want to lose myself in her voice.

Instead, I remain firmly in reality. I frown. "Sorry?" I ask, confused. "Why are you sorry?" She looks down, her hair in her face, her thick lashes casting shadows on her cheekbones.

"Because I…because you've gone to all this trouble to…and I-"I take her face in my hands. She stops abruptly, her cheeks flushing. I snicker in my head – she blushes easily, too. The boys will have fun teasing her.

"No," I admonish her firmly. "You shouldn't be sorry. I saw you drowning in the ocean, so I ran you p here to my place. Emily took care of you, and now you're awake." If anything, she blushes even more furiously at this. "What?" I say, unsure of what I have done to upset her.

"Nothing," she replies quickly. I raise my eyebrow at her skeptically. "Well,' she amends," I was…did you see…what happened? How I…" She trails off. 

I finish for her. "How you ended up in the ocean?" I take my hand from her hair and fold it in my lap, smiling at her. "Yes, I did." She turns over, burying her face in the pillows. The dark blue blanket slips off of her hip. I take it carefully and throw it back over her.

She twitches. The pack chooses that moment to leave, and Emily follows wordlessly. 

After a moment of silence, I say, "It's all right, you know, to like books." 

Her head comes off the pillows suddenly, and now she is glaring at me angrily. I am startled, and so flinch back. I swear I see the tiniest of smiles grace her pallid face, but if it is real, it quickly disappears. "I don't need your permission to like books," she growls, on the defensive.

"I didn't mean to say that you needed…" I correct myself awkwardly. "That you had to…" I give up. "I'm sorry." I hang my head shamefully.

"Don't be. I know I'm a nerd." She grins, and she is beautiful.

"No, you're not." I grin back. "Embry is." A strangled yelp comes from outside the front door, followed by the sound of the door banging open.

Embry comes to stand in front of me, hands curled into fists at his sides. The rest of the pack follow behind, faces expectant. They want something good. Well, they're going to get it. 

"Yeah, but it's basically a secret. He finds his nerdiness embarrassing. You see, he actually knows things like the first fifty digits of pi and the quadratic formula and stuff." I shake my head sadly. "Today is March 14th. He actually brought a-" 

"Well, it was pi day!" Embry interrupts. I snicker to myself – he is so easy to goad. "You know, it would be sad to miss an opportunity like that." 

The girl looks confused "Pie day?" she mumbles to herself.

"Yeah!" says Embry excitedly. "March 14th, 3/14, 3.14…and I brought one in and it was really good. Everybody liked it, Jake, you're just being an ass," he finishes, growling, then swiftly exits the room in an angry huff.

"What did he bring in?" she wonders.

I smile wider. "Pie." 

She lifts an eyebrow. "As in…apple pie kind of pie?" 

_Umm…what was it? _"No. As in cherry pie kind of pie." 

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, he's a nerd." Then she adds, as an afterthought, "But the quadratic formula is really cool. Negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four times a times c, the quantity of which is divided by two times a." 

I stare at her. "You _are _a nerd." 

"Thanks!" she says flippantly. "So, Jake…who exactly are you? All I know is that you are Jake and the pie-guy is Embry. And she's Emily," she finishes, pointing at Emily. 

Okay, so I've always suspected it, and Embry and Quil have always assured me that I am, but now I am sure of it: I am an idiot. I have been talking to her, babbling about things that she can't care about, when all she wants to know is what is happening, who we are.

She bites her lip, worried and quiet. Yeah, I'm stupid. I never want to see that look on her face again, never want to see the hint off fear in the crease of her brow. She doesn't deserve to worry.

"Yeah," I say brilliantly. "I'm Jacob Black, seventeen year's old. We're a my Dad Billy's place. You're in La Push, on Quileute reservation land. We're all Quileute, and we're kinda like one big family.

"That's Quil, he's an idiot and a softie, even though he doesn't look it-" Quil growls "-or sound it." I grin. "Of course, pie-boy is Embry, and he's a sensitive nerd at heart. Quil and Embry are my age." I point to Paul. "That's Paul, and he's got issues. Mental issues." Paul glares at me. I turn to the girl, who stares at me with intense eyes that I can't seem to look away from. "Nah, I'm kidding. Paul's all right, but be warned." My tone darkens, and I continue more seriously at a stage whisper. "Don't ever eat his food. He'll kill you." Paul barks out a laugh, and I relax, relieved that I hadn't said anything to make him mad. I point to Sam, who is standing in the corner behind Emily, rubbing circles lovingly into her shoulder blades.

"That's Sam," I say, and I can tell that the girl notices the change in my tone of voice: respectful, reverent. "He's kinda like…the group leader. He keeps ug guys in check, but he's a ton of fun. We mess around, but we're not bad guys." I break off, willing her to trust me, even though she doesn't understand all that the pack history entails. "And, of course, Emily." I smirk ruefully. "The mother of the group."

Emily smiles. "Maybe someday."

Sam takes her in his arms. "Someday soon," he whispers, and kisses her scarred cheek softly. I turn away, but not before I see Emily shiver with pleasure. 

I turn back to the girl expectantly. She is quiet for a moment. Then she speaks.

"My name is Wendy. Sholberg. Wendy Sholberg. I'm from West Virginia." She tries to sit up, struggling to get her arms free of the blankets that surround her. I reach over and pull the blankets off her shoulders. She nods her thanks, taking a breath.

"My parents are going through divorce." I growl, thinking it is imperceptible, but she looks at me, startled. She continues, fiddling with the edge of the blanket nervously. "I mean, they're great parents, but every kid gets annoyed with their parents, right? Mom and Dad…well, they haven't been doing so great. Dad gets a little…and so Mom brought me out here to Washington. We're debating on getting a house out here or in the northern part of Oregon."

I wonder what she meant by 'a little'. 'Dad gets a little…' 

"Hey, Wendy?" I interrupt as she opens her mouth to continue. 

"Yes?"

"What do you mean…your dad gets a little…A little what?" I am concerned. No, more than that; scared. Scared for her. If she was implying what I thought she was…

She looks down at her hands, lashes casting a dark shadow along her cheekbones. "He's…" Her breath hitches in her throat, something I shouldn't be able to hear. "He's gotten…mad…lately." Wendy unconsciously touches her side, wincing a little at the slight pressure. 

My eyes narrow in anger. "He's hurt you," I state flatly, and I can barely contain the sudden rage that courses through me.

Her voice, if anything, is quieter as she continues. "Yes. He…he would get mad at Mom, saying that she wasn't good enough, and he shouldn't have married her when he got her pregnant with me. That I wasn't…worth their marriage and…" – my hand grips her shoulder – "and that he'd like us to die and go to hell." She says this surprisingly calmly; I begin to shake, I can't help myself. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the anger away. 

Unexpectedly, she laughs. The sound is bitter, if beautiful. Cutting. Harsh. Deadened. "I reckon hell is a lot nicer a place than with him." I stop shaking. I'm no longer enraged; I am frightened. Frightened at the way this conversation has gone – her, wishing for death.

"Wendy," I start, but she cuts me off. 

"No, it's okay, Jacob. I'm past that, now. I'm safe. My mom's safe. I'll heal. So will she; it'll all be okay." I look at her dubiously, and her eyes widen. After a moment, she casually rolls her eyes. "Jacob, I'm not suicidal. Now that we've left him, I'm better." 

_Better_. If this is better, the pain that was in her eyes, the fright that was tangible in her voice…I don't want to know what she had been like when she was in danger. I don't want to know what she looked like when she was being hurt. No; I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. I can barely handle this.

I finally work up the courage, the strength, to ask, "How bad did he…did it get?" My throat catches, and I mentally berate myself. _You sound scared, kid, get it together._

She frowns into space thoughtfully. "It never got too out of hand; the worst time landed me in the hospital for a week." Upon seeing my horrified expression, she elaborated: "He broke several of my ribs." I was still in shock. This girl doesn't deserve anything like that, any pain at all. She is too kind, selfless, beautiful, playful, angelic…

"But why," I whisper, and I know that I look as tormented as I sound. 

"Because I was an easy target. My mom and I are built like each other – small and weak, on the outside, at least." She grins suddenly. "On the inside, however, we are vicious little creatures, I assure you." I choke back a snort.

"Yeah, snappy little vipers, I'm sure." I laugh, and I am amazed at how comfortable I am around her. 

There is silence, and she slowly sinks back into her protective, impenetrable shell. She is visibly saddened.

And then a fierce light comes into her eyes. She juts her chin out, almost insolently. "But I can take care of myself. Me and my mom…"She bites her lip, the light in her eye dying a bit. I can take care of my mom; we'll be fine. We don't need anybody, now." Her posture dares me to argue, but I can see the tears gathering in her eyes.

I take her chin, pushing her hair behind her ear with my hand. I lean in close. "But you want someone," I say, and I hope it's true. I hope she doesn't want to cut herself out from life, avoid everyone who can offer assistance or comfort. Avoid me. "You want someone as a friend, don't you?"

She gazes at me appraisingly. "Yes," she says softly, "but I want someone, who will be my friend, be ready to be whatever I need them to be." She looks away from me, glancing out the window. Avoiding eye contact. "Someone who will love me for me. Someone who will never leave me." Her voice breaks on the last words, and my heart nearly breaks along with them. 

"That," I say, sliding on the couch next to her and taking her in my arms, "I can do." She looks surprised at the sudden contact, but settles into my arms soon enough.

She doesn't understand what this means, not entirely. But I do know one thing. Soul mates are destined to be together, and there's nothing that can break them apart.

I know that, with whatever is ahead of us, we will always be together.

Because that's what a soul mate is: the one person that can reach past your hard outer core, your thick fur, or your granite skin. The one person who can make you see, make you feel. The one person who can teach your heart to love like no other, can touch your soul like you could never imagine.

I look down at Wendy, cuddled into my arms, smiling peacefully. A strange warmth fills my heart. I know that, like Bella and Edward, I have finally found the person who I will love for all of eternity. 

**A/N: Please note that I just had to give Jacob a happy ending…I really like Jake, and he wasn't faced with the conflicts Bella and Edward were. **

**There WILL be a sequel to this, in all likelihood, but connected more to the Cullens.**

**Here's the summary:**

**Bella and Edward are gone. Deceased. In heaven. The Cullens' grief is beyond words – but a visit from the Volturi to check on the now-dead Bella Cullen pushes them over the edge. The story of life, love, passion, and how there is no boundary where there is love. **

**Um…I love you all very much…so…**

**Me: Do you love me, reviewers?  
You: Um…s-sure…**

**Me: How MUCH do you love me, reviewers?**

**You: Um…I…I guess I'll…**

**Me: REVIEW IF YOU LOVE ME!**

**You: …Oh my goodness. Another Alice…**

**Please, guys, give me an opinion here. Opinions are good.**

**  
Before you run away and review (HINT HINT), I have a challenge for you. The first person to figure out the basics (very basics) of what happens when the Volturi come in the next installment will be recognized. Take a guess. Love, Jojo**


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